Sarah Zettel – Golden Girl

The first part of Zettel’s American Fairy Trilogy is still on my TBR pile but will you look at that cover? We are all reasonable people, we don’t love books because their wrapping is pretty but nobody can deny that covers still have importance and can decide whether a book is bought and read or overlooked. I bought Dust Girl because the premise sounded fantastic and I’m always on the lookout for new (to me) female SFF writers. Now that I see how gorgeous the second part looks, I plan on reading Dust Girl this summer!

Callie LeRoux has put her grimy, harrowing trip from the depths of the Dust Bowl behind her. Her life is a different kind of exciting now: she works at a major motion picture studio among powerful studio executives and stylish stars. Still nothing can distract her from her true goal. With help from her friend Jack and guidance from the great singer Paul Robeson, she will find her missing mother. But as a child of prophecy and daughter of the legitimate heir to the Unseelie throne, Callie poses a huge threat to the warring fae factions who’ve attached themselves to the most powerful people in Hollywood . . . and they are all too aware that she’s within their reach.

Terry Pratchett and Steve Baxter – The Long War

Given my lukewarm feelings about The Long Earth, I am a little surprised myself about how excited I am for part two. Even though I thought the first volume had problems and didn’t live up to the hype, somehow I look foward to returning to Lobsang and discover what’s become of the Long Earth and its pioneers.

A generation after the events of The Long Earth, humankind has spread across the new worlds opened up by “stepping.” A new “America”—Valhalla—is emerging more than a million steps from Datum—our Earth. Thanks to a bountiful environment, the Valhallan society mirrors the core values and behaviors of colonial America. And Valhalla is growing restless under the controlling long arm of the Datum government.
Soon Joshua, now a married man, is summoned by Lobsang to deal with a building crisis that threatens to plunge the Long Earth into a war unlike any humankind has waged before.

Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples – Saga Volume 2

Sure, I’ve already read this because I was lucky enough to get an e-ARC via NetGalley. But nothing is going to keep me from getting the paper version and slowly collecting the entire series on my shelf. Even though I have not much desire to actually touch the page with that giant’s scrotum hanging above Marko’s face…

The smash-hit ongoing epic continues! Thanks to her star-crossed parents Marko and Alana, newborn baby Hazel has already survived lethal assassins, rampaging armies, and alien monstrosities, but in the cold vastness of outer space, the little girl encounters something truly frightening: her grandparents!

Collects Saga issues #7-12

Jo Walton – What Makes This Book So Great

I still hate Among Others for its failed attempt at magic and its boring plot but whenever I read a great review on Tor.com it turns out Jo Walton wrote it. So let’s be grown up about it and admit that I didn’t like one thing she wrote but I adore other stuff. Apart from wanting to read one of her older novels, I will definitely buy this collection of reviews and book discussions.

This is a collection of some of the best of Jo’s posts on Tor.com. Selected from the first three years, What Makes This Book So Great, forthcoming in January 2014, is the result.

Read the announcement post on Tor.com for a taste of the reviews that will be collected in this volume. It promises the entire Vorkosigan Saga, thoughts on George Orwell, book discussions on Susanna Clarke, Connie Willis, Ursula K. Le Guin, Robert Heinlein, Jerry Pournelle and (I hope) many more.

And just to make this post complete, here are the two Cat Valente books I have pre-ordered. The level of my excitedness should be fairly obvious from anything I’ve ever said about Catherynne M. Valente’s books, here on this blog. I also just realized that, once these two books arrive in the mail, I will own “Silently and Very Fast” in three separate books…

Catherynne M. Valente – The Melancholy of Mechagirl

I have no idea what to expect from this collection, other than the sheer perfection that is anything Cat Valente writes. Stories about Japan sound appealing because I hardly ever read anything set in or about Japan. Plus, the cover art ist beautifully weird.

Science fiction and fantasy stories about Japan by the multiple-award winning author and New York Times best seller Catherynne M. Valente.

A collection of some of Catherynne Valente’s most admired stories, including the Hugo Award-nominated novella Silently and Very Fast and the Locus Award finalist “13 Ways of Looking at Space/Time,” with a brand-new long story to anchor the collection.

Catherynne M. Valente – The Bread We Eat in Dreams

Ever since the magnificently pleasant surprise of the signed (!) Six-Gun Snow White – a gorgeous book, inside and out – I am putting all my trust in Subterranean Press. According to their website, this will not be signed but it’s fully clothbound and full of awesome. All I have to do now is wait until December…

Subterranean Press proudly presents a major new collection by one of the brightest stars in the literary firmament. Catherynne M. Valente, the New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making and other acclaimed novels, now brings readers a treasure trove of stories and poems in The Bread We Eat in Dreams.
In the Locus Award-winning novelette “White Lines on a Green Field,” an old story plays out against a high school backdrop as Coyote is quarterback and king for a season. A girl named Mallow embarks on an adventure of memorable and magical politicks in “The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland—For a Little While.” The award-winning, tour de force novella “Silently and Very Fast” is an ancient epic set in a far-flung future, the intimate autobiography of an evolving A.I. And in the title story, the history of a New England town and that of an outcast demon are irrevocably linked.The thirty-five pieces collected here explore an extraordinary breadth of styles and genres, as Valente presents readers with something fresh and evocative on every page. From noir to Native American myth, from folklore to the final frontier, each tale showcases Valente’s eloquence and originality.

THE BRIDES OF ROLLROCK ISLAND
by Margo Lanagan

Published by: David Fickling Books, 2012
ISBN: 9780857560339
Hardcover: 320 pages

My rating: 6,5/10

First sentence: “The old witch is there,” said Raditch, peering over the top to Six-Mile Beach.

The Blurb: Rollrock island is a lonely rock of gulls and waves, blunt fishermen and their homely wives. Life is hard for the families who must wring a poor living from the stormy seas. But Rollrock is also a place of magic – the scary, salty-real sort of magic that changes lives forever. Down on the windswept beach, where the seals lie in herds, the outcast sea witch Misskaella casts her spells – and brings forth girls from the sea – girls with long, pale limbs and faces of haunting innocence and loveliness – the most enchantingly lovely girls the fishermen of Rollrock have ever seen.
But magic always has its price. A fisherman may have and hold a sea bride, and tell himself that he is her master. But from his first look into those wide, questioning, liquid eyes, he will be just as transformed as she is. He will be equally ensnared. And in the end the witch will always have her payment.

The thing about discovering a new author is that after that fantastic first book, expectations are high and disappointement is almost pre-programmed. I wasn’t worried about my second Lanagan because I loved her style and the synopsis – selkie wives, forced to marry human men and live on land, always yearning for the sea – sounded brilliant. Unfortunately, the novel never rises above the level of its synopsis and I had great trouble with the characters that were the main point of focus.

This novella is split into several parts, each from the perspective of a different person who is somehow connected to, or living on, Rollrock Island. While the prologue left me pretty bored, once Misskaella’s story started, I was hooked. This poor girl, growing up as the only ugly and chubby daughter in a family of conceited, vain girls, struggles enough as it is. As it turns out, she feels magically drawn to the seals on the beach which makes her even more of an outcast. She is the heart of this book because without her, bringing the sea wives out of the ocean wouldn’t have been that easy for the men of Rollrock.

And here was a wonder, that a man so well-conformed himself should be so eager to embrace what I had always been told was a poorly made body, laughable, even disgusting. But I delighted in him; he travelled my curves, weighed me in his hands, pressed me and gasped with me as I yielded. Open-faced he looked into me, his eyes empty of the scorn I was used to seeing, in women’s faces as well as men’s.

The following segments of the book, while well-written, made me lose interest again. I had hoped for a chapter from one of the selkie’s point of view which, alas, never happens. Instead, we focus on the boys and men of the island, first the generation that starts bringing their wives up from the sea instead of doing it the normal way, then the generation of their sons. There are so many great ideas hidden behind really boring plot. For example, none of the Rollrock families – now consisting exclusively of human men with selkie wives – have any daughters. Misskaella is still around and has taken on an apprentice, a relationship that I found most intriguing but that I never got to explore fully because we only know about it from a young boy’s point of view who tries to stay away from them.

The only time where there was any suspense was Daniel Mallett’s chapter, which also brings a sort of conclusion to the dark dealings on this island. However, that conclusion is painfully predictable! The whole book left me with a sense of “so… that’s it?” – where’s all the magic, where is the mythology? Other than knowing there are selkies living as married women on Rollrock Island and wanting to go back to the sea (because they’re selkies, that’s what they do), it was mostly men contemplating their lives, being afraid of Misskaella and wanting to keep their wives/mothers at any cost.

Of course the issues discussed here make up for any lack of action – men who prefer the quiet, cold, but beautiful and compliant sea wives to real women of flesh and blood, that’s just not right, is it? But what about these sea wives’s sons? Is it wrong for them to love their mothers and want to keep them from returning to the sea? The book itself doesn’t give the answers to these questions, it merely shows how different characters feel about the issue and lets the reader decide – a point I cannot praise enough in a YA novel.

The disjointed nature of this book, which may as well be called a collection of short stories set in the same place, made it hard for me to truly connect with any of the characters, most of all the sea wives. I am not saying the book is bad, and numerous awards (and more nominations) will confirm that, I was displeased with it because of personal taste. The jumping perspectives did do a great job of showing Rollrock society from different angles, illuminating one household or one group of friends at a time. I can’t reproach the book for lack of atmosphere either because, repressing as it may be, Rollrock did come to life on these pages. I only wish more, and different, characters had come to life with it.

THE GOOD: A well-written story of a small island town whose men do something atrocious and must come to terms with it. Misskaella is a great character (and would have deserved her own novel, in my opinion), the idea of the sea weed blankets appealed to me, and the very end offered a bittersweet surprise.
THE BAD: Because each protagonist gets only a short segment to tell their story, I had trouble caring about them. If I could choose, the focus would have been on the selkies, the human women on Rollrock, or Misskaella.
THE VERDICT: A good book with great ideas that didn’t appeal to me because I wanted something different. That’s not the book’s or the writer’s fault, of course, and I will continue to read Margo Lanagan. She has a brilliant mind and writes beautiful prose. This one just wasn’t for me.

RATING: 6,5/10 – Quite good

(I feel the need to point out – as I did on my ratings page – that this rating does not reflect the quality of the book (as if that’s possible – even by professional critics) but my own enjoyment of it. I adore Margo Lanagan and wouldn’t want to put anyone off reading her books.)

Other reviews:

• Steph Su Reads
• A Case For Books
• The Newton Review of Books

SAGA: VOLUME 2
by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Published by: Image Comics, July 2013
ISBN: 9781607066927
Paperback: 144 Pages
Series: Saga #2

My rating: 9,5/10

First sentence: I should rewind for a second. This is my old man back when he wasn’t.

The smash-hit ongoing epic continues! Thanks to her star-crossed parents Marko and Alana, newborn baby Hazel has already survived lethal assassins, rampaging armies, and alien monstrosities, but in the cold vastness of outer space, the little girl encounters something truly frightening: her grandparents!
Collects Saga issues #7-12

Alana and Marko just got themselves to a mildly safe place – a tree that is also a space ship – and could continue their flight almost comfortably. If it weren’t for Marko’s parents who drop by unannounced and are less than happy to find their only son married to a Landfall girl. At the same time, The Will and Prince IV continue their search for the scandalous couple and their baby. And to make things worse, there’s a new hunter on their trail…

This series manages not only to keep up its whacky style, it turns it up to eleven. Whether it’s a giant with a monstrous scrotum trying to kill our heroes, a “space fetus”, or a rodent medic, Vaughan and Staples’ imagination seems to know no limits. The artwork is stunning as ever, the characters are vivid and don’t all look the same (something I’ve noticed with certain comic artists), their age differences are visible. But there are more reasons to love these characters, because they feel utterly believable, each with their own problems and dreams. Most of all, I was impressed (again) with the depiction of Alana and Marko’s relationship. There is no romanticizing or cheesy scenes. Apart from them having wings and horns, respectively, they could be an ordinary couple trying to make it in our world.

I suspect that this story will continue to grow and end up being about way more than an interspecies war. If it keeps up this kind of quality and suspense, I’m in for the long ride. Ten volumes? Great. Twenty? Why not? Because so far, every issue was better than the last and there are more characters to love or hate, but always with a passion.
The Will and Lying Cat grew on me even more in this volume. Once Will is joined by Marko’s mysterious ex Gwendolyn (whom I love and hate at the same time), things take an interesting turn and plot strings tie together beautifully. There were even a few moments that made me hold my breath and fear for the characters’ lives – until then I hadn’t even known I cared that much.

I was extremely pleased to see how Marko and Alana met, a scene that added another layer to each of their personalities. The appearance of Marko’s parents temproarily splits the plot in two. Because Hazel’s new babysitter was unceremoniously sent away by Marko’s mother, Marko goes out to find her and his mother follows after him. Which leaves Alana and her new father-in-law on the ship with Hazel. Marko and his mother don’t have much time to talk about relationships or family because they are thrown from one danger into the next. Alana on the other hand, gets some quiet moments, interrupted only by her discovery (yet again) of how babies work.

Every plot thread delivers a wonderful mixture of action, character development and flash backs to keep me utterly hooked. The only negative I can think of is that Marko’s parents – while featuring throughout the entire collection – don’t get enough depth. Yes, they are layered characters but I was under the impression that I was supposed to care a lot more about them than I did. This being a very, very minor issue (and may just as well be my own fault for not connecting with the characters), my love for the comic series has only grown. So… when is the third collection coming out?

THE GOOD: Amazing characters, crazy ideas, a killer plot – drawn beautifully and vividly. Realistic depiction of Marko and Alana’s relationship. Fantastically narrated by Hazel-at-some-unknown-point-in-the-future.
THE BAD: I couldn’t connect with Marko’s parents as much as I wanted to.
THE VERDICT: Even more highly recommended than volume one (which you should read first, nonetheless!). Possibly my favorite comic books ever.

RATING: 9,5/10  – Pretty close to perfection.

Saga:

1. Volume 1
2. Volume 2

THE LAST HERO
by Terry Pratchett

Published by: Harper Voyager, 2001
Illustrated by: Paul Kidby
ISBN: 9780060507770
Paperback: 176 pages
Series: Discworld #27

My rating: 7,5/10

First sentence: The place where the story happened was a world on the back of four elephants perched on the shell of a giant turtle.

Cohen the Barbarian. He’s been a legend in his own lifetime.
He can remember the good old days of high adventure, when being a Hero meant one didn’t have to worry about aching backs and lawyers and civilization. But these days, he can’t always remember just where he put his teeth…So now, with his ancient (yet still trusty) sword and new walking stick in hand, Cohen gathers a group of his old — very old — friends to embark on one final quest. He’s going to climb the highest mountain of Discworld and meet the gods.It’s time the Last Hero in the world returns what the first hero stole. Trouble is, that’ll mean the end of the world, if no one stops him in time.

The end of Discworld is near and the only people who can save the world are well-known – although not necessarily for their heroism or use. When Lord Vetinari finds out that Cohen the Barbarian and his aged gang are planning to give fire back to the gods, thus destroying the entire world, he goes to Leonard of Quirm for help. The crazy inventor and genius comes up with a plan that involves heavy machinery powered by dragons and a circumnavigation of Discworld… under the elephants, that is.

Leonard of Quirm, being the daVinci of Discworld, lends himself wonderfully to this illustrated novel. And I must begin with the illustrations. With a mere 176 pages, the pictures did as much to bring the story to life as did the words. Anybody who’s had one of the newer Discworld novels in their hands is familiar with Paul Kidby’s strange yet realistic style (not to be confused with the even stranger Josh Kirby who did the covers for most of the older novels). These pages are filled to the brim with images, even on pages without character sketches, dragons, or the truly funky ship Quirm builds, the background offers a little eye candy. All the pages are sepia colored, making them look a little like vellum. There are sketches in the background (and yes, sometimes that was annoying when I was trying to make out the print), anatomy studies of dragons, and – my favorite – the Vitruvian Man featuring a bewildered Rincewind.

Oh yes, did I mention that? Leonard of Quirm’s ship only holds three passengers which are duly selected by Lord Vetinari. Captain Carrot, as a volunteer, is an obvious recruit. Rincewind kind of volunteers because he knows he’s going to end up on this deadly mission anyway. And let’s just say, the trip holds more than one surprise in store.

It took me a while to warm to Pratchett’s humor, or rather I never really liked the earlier Discworld novels. With The Last Hero I found myself chuckling on every page and reading random passages to my boyfriend out loud because they wanted to be shared and laughed about. What I enjoyed was the range of humor. You get silly one-liners, clever wordplay, and most of all jibes at the job of being a Hero. This is Discworld doing what it does best, subverting the fantasy genre by turning it on its head, laughing at it, and sometimes just rolling with it because, hey, we all love the genre with all its tropes and bumps and problems.

On 176 (large format) pages, Pratchett managed to tell an adventure story, first and foremost. But especially the storyline about Cohen the Barbarian and his gang, all old men by now, wearing the gear and garments of their younger selves (which makes for hilarious images, as you can imagine), talk about what being a hero means. After they got everything they ever wanted, ended up rich, with families and comfortable lives to lead, there is still something missing. It was these scenes that gave the book a nice balance between silly and serious, and it is for this balance that I have come to love Discworld to death. Speaking of which – of course he makes an appearance, in text as well as art.

There wasn’t a single page I didn’t thoroughly enjoy and even though Rincewind and Captain Carrot are well-known characters with their own sub-series, I would say this is a good novel to start if you haven’t read any Discworld yet. Even if you don’t like the story as such, just the description of the dragon species are worth the read.

THE GOOD: Hilarious fun, fantastic illustrations that make up almost half of the book, a story that is both funny and deep.
THE BAD: While I consider it a good starter novel, if you don’t know any of the characters, some jokes will be lost on you. Side characters don’t get a lot of personality because, on less than 200 pages, there simply is no time.
THE VERDICT: A highly recommended Discworld novel, especially the illustrated edition. After this, I kind of never want to read a text-only Pratchett again.

RATING: 7,5/10 – Very good!

The Discworld Series:

1. The Colour of Magic
2. The Light Fantastic
3. Equal Rites
4. Mort
5. Sourcery
6. Wyrd Sisters
7. Pyramids
8. Guards! Guards!
9. Eric
10. Moving Pictures
11. Reaper Man
12. Witches Abroad
13. Small Gods
14. Lords and Ladies
15. Men at Arms
16. Soul Music
17. Interesting Times
18. Maskerade
19. Feet of Clay
20. Hogfather
21. Jingo
22. The Last Continent
23. Carpe Jugulum
24. The Fifth Elephant
25. The Truth
26. Thief of Time
27. The Last Hero
28. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
29. Night Watch
30. The Wee Free Men
31. Monstrous Regiment
32. A Hat Full of Sky
33. Going Postal
34. Thud!
35. Wintersmith
36. Making Money
37. Unseen Academicals
38. I Shall Wear Midnight
39. Snuff

IN THE CITIES OF COIN AND SPICE
by Catherynne M. Valente

Published by: Spectra, 2007
ISBN: 9780553384048
Paperback: 516 pages
Series: The Orphan’s Tales #2

My rating: 9/10

First sentence: The paths of the garden were wet with fallen apples and red with their ruptured skin.

Her name and origins are unknown, but the endless tales inked upon this orphan’s eyelids weave a spell over all who listen to her read her secret history. And who can resist the stories she tells? From the Lake of the Dead and the City of Marrow to the artists who remain behind in a ghost city of spice, here are stories of hedgehog warriors and winged skeletons, loyal leopards and sparrow calligraphers. Nothing is too fantastic, anything can happen, but you’ll never guess what comes next in these intimately linked adventures of firebirds and djinn, singing manticores, mutilated unicorns, and women made entirely of glass and gears. Graced with the magical illustrations of Michael Kaluta, In the Cities of Coins and Spice is a book of dreams and wonders unlike any you’ve ever encountered. Open it anywhere and you will fall under its spell. For here the story never ends and the magic is only beginning….

When In the Night Garden took me onto its long, winding journey, I didn’t think I would fall in love with it as hard as I did. The nameless girl with stories tattooed on her eyelids continues to tell her tales and they, in turn, continue to go deeper and deeper until a tapestry of mythology evolves, and not a single character remains nameless or faceless. Getting into this part was easier because, first of all, I knew what was waiting for me, structurally. I knew that whenever a character would meet another, I would get to hear their story and the stories contained in that story. Secondly, by now I was familiar with a lot of the settings – we return to cities we visited in the first volume, and meeet known characters, much to my delight. In the Night Garden wrapped up its stories neatly, for the most part, but I couldn’t help but wonder whatever happened to the firebird or the goose. Well, we find out here.

If I talk any more about Valente’s gift with words, my readers will run away screaming. But it is true that she magically paints pictures that are so vivid they followed me into my dreams. Within a short paragraph, she breathes so much life into her characters that you feel like you know them, you can understand them, and – most of all – you come to love them. Whether it’s a unicorn (they’re not white, by the way), a spider looking for her vocation, a djinn who is made queen, a girl born from a tea-leaf or a Gaselli who is friends with a manticore, I feel like I’ve met a whole cast of unforgettable characters who each follow their own path. And when their paths intertwine, something beautiful happens.

Saturated with mythology and fairytales, Valente puts a new spin on what we expect. Creatures that we would consider ugly or evil turn out to be the gentlest, kindest characters, unicorns – pure and white and lovely – are drawn to innocence for a very different reason that one may think. My knowledge of mythology is not wide enough to know if all the characters are inspired by folklore or myth, but in the end, it doesn’t matter. The monsters represented here feel entirely original and it was a pleasure to find out an ostensibly evil character’s reasons for doing what they do. There are at least two sides to every story and they all seem to lead back to the Stars, expelled from their home, walking among humans (and monsters), yearning for a place that is lost to them.

What makes this second volume so interesting is not just that Valente delivers more of the brilliance we’ve come to know. It’s that the story is pushed forward, that in the real world, where a girl tells a prince her stories, the story progresses. I will admit I have suspected the twist at the end, but that didn’t make it any less beautiful. What I didn’t expect was how much the prince’s sister Dinarzad grew on me, but then, Valente does that to her readers. Introduce characters that are merely interesting but will steal your heart within a chapter or two.

I cannot recommend these two books enough. Anyone who enjoys stories based around mythology, who likes a wide, diverse range of characters, or someone who has a soft spot in their heart for monsters and outcasts, will find nothing but joy within these many pages. Sure, personal taste dictates that somebody will prefer certain stories to others (Saint Sigrid is still my favorite, although the Gaselli and the Manticore are close seconds) but the overall quality of these tales can’t be disputed. I wish more writers would dare something this intricate, would give their characters so much life. And by now, I have started hoping that Cat Valente will write a lot more – and fast.

THE GOOD: Vivid settings, beautiful language, full-depth characters, and a magic that connects them all.
THE BAD: If you’ve come this far, the structure probably doesn’t bother you. I wasn’t a huge fan of the hedgehog story but that’s the only “bad” thing I can think of.
THE VERDICT: I have sung with manticores, danced with the Gaselli, opened cages that held vibrant creatures, lost something in the city of Marrow, met a spider seamstress, a firebird’s child, and a girl made of tea. These two little books have sent my head spinning with imagination and wonder. And I never want to let it go.

RATING: 9/10  – Close to perfection

BONUS: Michael Kaluta’s illustrations (while they could be more numerous) were even more gorgeous than in the first part.

SECOND BONUS: I have talked about S.J. Tucker before. After enjoying her album for the first novel in The Orphan’s Tales duology, there was no way I was missing out on the second. This time, the songs offer a wider range of styles and themes, but they fit perfectly with their corresponding stories in the book. Again, we get snippets of text read by S.J. Tucker (that I skipped until I had finished the book – my fear of spoilers was unfounded). Most of all, this music created an added layer of atmosphere. Valente certainly doesn’t need help with that, but listening to the sad, beautiful, wild songs on this album made this a wholly immersive experience.

The Orphan’s Tales:

1. In the Night Garden
2. In the Cities of Coin and Spice

But let’s talk books. Here is what little I managed to read in May 2013:

THE BEST

Nalo Hopkinson – Midnight Robber   8,5/10

After hearing only good things about Nalo Hopkinson, I randomly picked one of her books and was pretty much blown away. Writing this now in June, the themes and language still reverberate and it’s hard to get the book out of my mind. Tan-Tan was a fantastic protagonist and I can’t wait to discover more of Hopkinson’s books. She is immensely gifted, her writing feels fresh and different and utterly fascinating. Please sir, can I have some more?

Catherynne M. Valente – Six-Gun Snow White   8,5/10

By now I know there is no going wrong with Cat Valente. I particularly love this book because it is signed (yay) and beautifully made. The story, while short, pushed all the right buttons and transported a well-known fairytale into a Wild West setting. The pictures she paints with her prose are nothing short of magical and if I weren’t extremely careful with my books, I would have underlined pretty much every other paragraph. Totally worth its 30 Euro price, and then some.

Frances Hardinge – Fly By Night  7,5/10

Frances Hardinge has given me hope that YA and children’s fiction has not completely gone to shit. Everything about this book was original. The language, while easy enough to understand, was challenging at times (that’s how you teach people new things, after all, and not just children!), the setting and characters were fully fleshed-out and different from anything I have read in a children’s book before. Hardinge is another author that went right to my must-read-more-of-that list.

THE WORST

Seeing as I only read four books, the chances were pretty low to come across a terrible one. And I didn’t. Nothing bad in May, other than not reading enough in general.

THE REST

Sullivan, Kate (ed.) – (re) Visions: Alice  5/10

A small short story collection set around the original Alice in Wonderland. As with any collection, I didn’t like every story. There was a broad range of  styles and quality. If you want to read about a noir version of Wonderland, meet old friends from Wonderland in real-life London, or see how one person can flee into her own Wonderland because real life deals her nothing but trouble, you may well find something to like in here. The collection also includes Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland which was by far the most fun of the stories represented. All in all, the collection left me with a feeling of “meh” but the first short story still sticks in my mind as a lot of fun and very close to Carroll’s nonsensical writingn style.

Books that followed me to June

Margo Lanagan – The Brides of Rollrock Island (Sea Hearts)
I expected something as breathtaking as Tender Morsels but even a week of holiday and unlimited reading time didn’t make me finish this book. The narrative switches too much between characters and reads more like a short story collection than a novel. I am also missing some of the magic that, in my mind, should be present whenever selkies are involved. That said, the writing is beautiful and some characters’ arcs are truly touching. Maybe the ending will sweep me off my feet (though I doubt it).

MIDNIGHT ROBBER
by Nalo Hopkinson

Published by: Warner Aspect, 2000
ISBN: 0446675601
Paperback: 336 pages
Standalone

My rating: 8,5/10

First sentence: Oho. Like it starting, oui? Don’t be frightened, sweetness; is for the best.

It’s Carnival time, and the Carribean-colonized planet of Toussaint is celebrating with music, dance and pageantry. Masked “Midnight Robbers” waylay revelers with brandished weapons and spellbinding words. But to young Tan-Tan, the Robber Queen is simply a favourite costume to wear at the festival–until her power-corrupted father commits an unforgivable crime.

Suddenly, both father and daughter are thrust into the brutal world of New Half-Way Tree. Here monstrous creatures from folklore are real, and the humans are violent outcasts in the wilds. Here Tan-Tan must reach into the heart of myth–and become the Robber Queen herself. For only the Robber Queen’s legendary powers can save her life…and set her free.

Seven-year old Tan-Tan lives on Toussaint, a Caribbean-colonized planet, where she – like everybody else – is connected to the Granny Nanny Web through the nanomites in her blood. Being the daughter of the mayor of Cockpit County, she leads a happy life and wants, more than anything, to play the Robber Queen at the upcoming carnival. But the story doesn’t open with Tan-Tan. We first get to know her father, Antonio, who has his own troubles to deal with. A cheating wife, the constant surveillance of Granny Nanny, the lust for more power. When he catches his wife cheating on him and challenges her lover to a duel, his and Tan-Tan’s lives are about to change forever.

As soon as they arrive on the parallel planet of New Half-Way Tree which is used as a prison colony, the story really starts to kick off. Tan-Tan and Antonio have to learn how to survive in the bush of this new world. The local species, the douen, help them survive their first days and lead them to a human village where they try to make a new life. But as Tan-Tan grows older and starts looking more and more like her mother, Antonio commits a terrible crime that will haunt his daughter and turn her into the real Robber Queen of New Half-Way Tree…

When I picked up this book, the first thing I noticed was the language. I had never read anything written in Anglopatwa before and I admit it took a few pages to get used to. But after these few pages, the prose had a beautiful flow to it and told Tan-Tan’s story very organically. If the beginning puts you off, I urge you to keep reading. The style adds a layer of atmosphere to what is already a fantastic story, part science-fiction, part mythological fantasy. Personally, I loved every page and even caught myself thinking in patwa every once in a while. There are French words strewn among the English, the grammar is simplified, but there was never a moment where the language didn’t make perfect sense. It felt so natural that I couldn’t stop turning the pages.

One of oonuh tell me about junjuh mould. It does grow where nothing else can’t catch. When no soil not there, it put roots down in the rock, and all rainwater and river water pound down on it, it does thrive. No matter what you do, it does grow back.

Characterization and world-building are done phenomenally, not through info-dumps, but through action. We are never told how the ‘Nansi Web works but it becomes clear from the context and the interactions between characters and their earbuds. New Half-Way Tree is a whole new world to discover and because it is as new to Tan-Tan as it is to the readers, we are introduced slowly to its secrets. From the human settlements and their basic governments, to the flora and fauna of the place, to the culture of the natives, the douen, everything felt utterly vibrant and alive. It was a pleasure to discover this place! I particularly enjoyed the myth-like stories the narrator tells every once in a while. The origin story of New Half-Way Tree in particular got to me.

It ain’t no magic in do-feh-do,
If you take one, you mus’ give back two

After all this praise, I must say this was a strange reading experience. I would pick up the book, devour page after page, put it away and suddenly lose all urge to continue reading. I would pick it up again, wonder what was wrong with me, how I couldn’t want to read this fantastic book anymore. And so it went for a while. I really can’t tell you why that was. In retrospect, some passages feel a little slow or drawn-out, but while I was reading I couldn’t find fault with the pacing at all. Not a single part of the plot was boring and I did want to know how Tan-Tan’s story continued – so my conclusion is that it is just me. The reason I’m telling you this is simply because, if you feel the same about the book, don’t let it put you off. Continue reading, it really pays off.

Needless to say, I am incredibly happy to have disocvered Nalo Hopkinson. I can see why she is hailed as one of SFF’s best young authors. One thing is certain: This will only be the first of Nalo Hopkinson’s books I read, not only because the language showed me a completely new aspect of SFF fiction but because this book tickled all my soft spots. The mixture of science fiction and fantasy, mythology and survival story, a fantastic female protagonist and a fascinating alien species… I mean, what more can I want? That’s right, a good ending. Until it happened, I had no idea whether this would end well or terribly, and either way would have worked for this story. I found the ending satisfying in its half-open, half-resolved way. In fact, I could not have imagined a better way to end this book.

If you like original, fresh fantasy or science fiction, do yourself a favor and pick this one up.

THE GOOD: Great use of language, fantastic characters, beautiful world-building, and a fascinating alien culture.
THE BAD: Said great language may not be for everyone.
THE VERDICT: A highly-recommended book by an incredibly talented writer whose work I’ll certainly continue devouring.

RATING: 8,5/10  -  Absolutely excellent

Second Opinions:

• io9
• megwrites
• SF Mistressworks
• A Striped Armchair

SIX-GUN SNOW WHITE
by Catherynne M. Valente

Published by: Subterranean, 2013
ISBN: 9781596065529
Hardcover: 165 pages
Standalone

My rating: 8,5/10

First sentence: I accept with equanimity that you will not credit me when I tell you Mr. H married a Crow woman and had a baby with her round about the time he struck his fortune in the good blue, which is how folk used to designate Nevada silver.

From New York Times bestselling author Catherynne M. Valente comes a brilliant reinvention of one the best known fairy tales of all time. In the novella Six-Gun Snow White, Valente transports the title’s heroine to a masterfully evoked Old West where Coyote is just as likely to be found as the seven dwarves.

A plain-spoken, appealing narrator relates the history of her parents—a Nevada silver baron who forced the Crow people to give up one of their most beautiful daughters, Gun That Sings, in marriage to him. With her mother’s death in childbirth, so begins a heroine’s tale equal parts heartbreak and strength. This girl has been born into a world with no place for a half-native, half-white child. After being hidden for years, a very wicked stepmother finally gifts her with the name Snow White, referring to the pale skin she will never have. Filled with fascinating glimpses through the fabled looking glass and a close-up look at hard living in the gritty gun-slinging West, readers will be enchanted by this story at once familiar and entirely new.

I’ll be honest, this time around the style took a little getting used to. This is, however, entirely my own fault. I am still right in the middle of The Orphan’s Tales and my head (and heart) has a lot of trouble letting go of that world. But when this hardback beauty arrived in the mail, there was no way I wasn’t going to devour it, and soon. Especially because I thought, when I bought it, I was just getting the “regular” hardback, not numbered or signed or special in any way (other than being a Cat Valente book and, therefore, inherently special). I was all the more surprised when I opened it and saw this:

Yup. That is mine. All mine. Even my boyfriend squeed with me (because guess who gets to hear even more gushing Valente fangirl rants from me than you guys?). A bit of research showed me that there were only signed copies of this and I, without knowing it, snatched one.

Like I have mentioned before, fairytales were my very first contact with stories, tales that I knew so well I would correct my grandparents when they told me one. Retellings of fairytales are incredibly popular these days which does not mean that they are any good. Most YA retellings (Margo Lanagan totally excluded) simpy set the fairy tale in an different place or make it modern. Valente is cleverer than that. While transporting the story of Snow White into the west, making her father a miner and her mother a Crow woman, already adds an element of interest to the well-known story. Snow White’s childhood is not a happy one and she is reminded constantly – by her name if not anyone else – what she can never be. Beautiful and loved and white. The stepmother lives up to everything you’d expect from Snow White’s evil stepmother and that fact that she wraps her cruelties in a cloak of “love” makes it even worse.

She put jasper and pearl combs in my hair and yanked them so tight I cried – there, now you’re a lady, she said, and I did not know if the comb or the tears did it. She put me in her own corsets like nooses strangling my waist til I was sick, my breath gone and my stomach shoved up into my ribs – there, now you’re civilized, she said, and I did not know if it was the corset or the sickness that did it. She forbade me to eat sweets or any good thing til I got thin as a dog and could hardly stand I was so damn hungry – there, now you’re beautiful, she said and I did not know if it was my dog-bones showing or my crawling in front of her begging for a miserable apple to stop my belly screaming that made me fair.

For myself I thought: this is how you make a human being. A human being is beautiful and sick. A human being glitters and starves.

There are heartbreaking moments of cruelty in this novella, but then there are amazing moments of strength. I couldn’t quite figure out Snow White until the end, I could never be sure how she would decide in a given moment, but I had endless amounts of empathy for the little girl just trying to be loved by her new mother, for the lost woman trying to find a place where she can belong, but never quite fitting in anywhere.

Elements of the original fairytale were incorporated in a clever way. Apples are involved, the stepmother does visit three times, but Snow White is anything but stupid. Her character was nuanced, which made her quite different from the Snow White we may all know (from fairytales or the Disney version) but it also made her a believable person. There is a hunt but it involves guns rather than bow and arrow, and my favorite part was the shape the seven dwarves took in this alternate version. They brought me enormous amounts of happiness but I can’t tell you why without spoiling the fun a little.

This being a novella, there are few characters, but every one of them – even the ones who never get any lines – are three-dimensional. This is something that keeps impressing me. Cat Valente creates atmosphere and an entire personality within a short paragraph. Her style, while experimental and a little different in every book, has a fairytale-esque quality to it that never ceases to engross me. Even if the plot were shit, I could open any of her books and just fall into whatever paragraph my eyes would land on. That’s how beautifully she writes.

My only complaint about this book is that it could have been longer. Especially parts that happened toward the end, Red Deer becoming a character, Snow White sort of bonding with animals, were so powerful that I could have read on and on and on. They were cut short by the ending and I was a little sad about that. The ending as such worked for me, but then so would a completely different one. I consider it a good thing that Valente’s books aren’t about how it all ends, they are about everything that happens from beginning to end, they don’t rely on a big reveal at the end or even a huge climax. They just are. Whenever I read one of her books, I have that feeling of I don’t want this to end.

THE GOOD: Valente paints pictures of wonder and magic in your head, uses words in a way I have never seen before, and tells stories of strong women struggling through life.
THE BAD: I wanted more (or longer) scenes toward the end, more of the women’s village, more of Red Deer.
THE VERDICT: If you like fairytale retellings, mythpunk, or lyrical prose, you’ve come to the right place. This also happens to be a beautiful book (speaking of the cover, binding, paper texture).

RATING: 8,5/10  – More than excellent

You can read an excerpt on Tor.

First, the ones that make sense:

Catherynne M. Valente – The Orphan’s Tales

Music: S.J. Tucker – For the Girl in the Garden and Solace and Sorrow

S.J. Tucker and Cat Valente are friends and, from what I see on the internet, frequently go on tour together. The authoress reads and Miss Tucker sings and/or plays music to accompany her. These two albums are highly recommended for many, many reasons. Every single song actually pertains to the story in The Orphan’s Tales duology, some tracks are readings of passages from the books, and they all create an amazing atmosphere. Sure, the books would be breathtaking on their own but the music gave it that little extra kick that will make these stories completely unforgettable.

You can head over to S.J. Tucker’s homepage and buy the albums right there – they are “name your own price” so even a small wallet can enjoy this folksy, mythic music. I went and bought the above albums plus the one inspired by Cat Valente’s Palimpsest. I also highly recommend the song “September’s Rhyme” to go along with the first Fairyland book.

J.M. Barrie – Peter Pan

Music: James Newton Howard – Peter Pan OST

I have been slightly obsessed with Peter Pan for many years and read it first long before the 2003 movie came out. Once it did, however, I bought the soundtrack and listened to it while re-reading. It perfectly captures the childlike wonder this book makes me feel. Movie soundtracks are great for readers who are easily distracted because there are no lyrics, just orchestra music. This one is sweet, sugary, full of stars and thimbles, and while Howard isn’t my favorite soundtrack composer, I think it goes very well with this story. The Régis Loisel comic adaptation, though… not so much.

Catherynne M. Valente – Deathless

Music: Clint Mansell – Death is the Road to Awe (The Fountain OST)

This one happened by accident. I found a recommended soundtrack list somewhere on tumblr and checked out the music on youtube. This one stuck with me and I listened to it over and over again while gobbling up this amazing book (In case you’re wondering: Yes, I am having a total love affair with Cat Valente’s work). I had seen the movie The Fountain but didn’t make the connection between the song and the movie at all. Anyway, the song offers the perfect mix of mythology and dramatic crescendoes for this particular story.

Chuck Palahniuk

Music: Pixies – Where Is My Mind

Ever since I saw Fight Club and then read the book, I have been in love with Chuck Palahniuk’s work. The Pixies song is the one that plays at the end of the movie and it’s become the Palahniuk song for me. Whenever I embark upon the journey through one of his new books, I put it on and am back in this guy’s strange world. It fits not only because the song is featured in one of his movie adaptations but also because “Where is my mind” is the perfect thing to ask yourself while reading Chuck’s books. He is insanely talented but utterly disturbing.

Now for the embarrassing ones…

George R.R. Martin – A Song of Ice and Fire

Music: The Killers – Hot Fuss

This  album came out in 2003 which was when I first started reading A Game of Thrones and, like I said above, the two were simply consumed together because the album was new and I got the book as a gift. There is no reason whatsoever why I would recommend this particular combination of book and movie other than that it worked for me. To this day, I can not hear “Mister Brightside” without seeing the Starks going down the King’s Road to the capital. It even goes so far that certain POV characters are associated with particular songs of the album (in my head, at least). Go figure.

K. A. Applegate – The Everworld Series

Music: Spice Girls – Forever

My only defense is that this was a gift and I was 14 years old. There you go. Again, there is no connection at all between the books and the music, it’s just that listening to the album while reading the series made them inseparable in my head. I can’t say I listen to the Spice Girls any more but when my mp3-player shuffles up one of their songs, I’m right back in Everworld alongside those four teenagers facing Norse gods, trolls, dragons and Merlin. I still can’t believe this series only got 12 instalments. When I was 14, I could have continued reading these books forever. Highly recommended YA reads (though not necessarily with that soundtrack).

(re) Visions: Alice
by Kaye Chazan, Amanda Ching, Hilary Thomas, C.A. Young
& Lewis Carroll

Published by: Candlemark & Gleam, 2011
ISBN: 1936460052
ebook: 219 pages

My rating: 5/10

First sentence: The boy has managed, so far, to displace himself four meters off the ground.

In 1865, Alice went on an adventure to Wonderland. Today, four modern authors follow her down the rabbit hole…

This is the first in a planned series in the (re)Visions line, which is devoted to exploring the lasting legacy of classic works of speculative fiction on our genres and on our lives. In each book in the series, four authors will tackle a classic work of imaginative fiction, and give it their own spin; along with each of these novellas will also be the original work.

I read few to no anthologies or short story collections (a fault I am trying to remedy at the moment) and it may be because I feel the need to read the stories in order and not skip any of them. Reading short stories online (at Clarkesworld, etc.) has brought me enormous amounts of pleasure, though, so I thought I’d give this little collection a try. After all, not much can go wrong when you know you’re getting spins on a favorite classic, right? Well…

Lewis Carroll – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

I won’t say much about this. It is Alice as we know and love her, and if I ever do write a review on that book, it will get its own post. This was very nice beginning for the anthology, of course, and gave me an excuse to re-read it. Luckily, I can continue in my Annotated Alice which includes Through the Looking Glass. That one is definitely worth its own review…

I will talk about each of the four contained novellas separately, as they were all written by a different author.

Kaye Chazan – What Aelister Found Here

Blurb: It is 1888, and Aelister has never felt at home, not even in his own skin. Now that he’s been expelled from school, he sees no reason to stick around his house in Warwickshire, so he runs away to another world altogether: London. The city is a maze of heat and rain, where a murderer stalks the streets of Whitechapel and a Crown Prince flouts his mother’s laws, and Aelister soon finds himself dealt into a series of deadly games—ones that put his life, and far more, on the line. And while London may not be the wonderland Aelister expected to find, he is far from the only person in the city looking for that very place.

Now this is what I was hoping for. The story opens on our practical boy-protagonist in avery Alice-like style. The witty prose and clever asides were totally up my alley and reminded me very much of Victorian prose. There are references to Alice and they are very neatly incorporated into the real-world setting. While the main story has pacing problems as soon as Aelister arrives in London, it picks up once a very peculiar game of chess starts. I enjoyed how Jack the Ripper was mixed into this strange little tale, but the end came extremely abrubtly and was somewhat anticlimactic. The Alice-elements are subdued, you will recognize a lot of characters from the original. Altogether, a story that I enjoyed more for its whimsical tone and its practical protagonist than for its connection to the original Alice. Recommended. Rating: 6,5/10

Amanda Ching – House of Cards

Blurb: There’s Alice, who fell down a rabbit hole and had an adventure. Then there’s the Queen of Hearts, who loses her temper quite frequently. But before that, there was Mary Ann, a servant pressed past patience, past duty. As all three hurtle toward an inevitable meeting, a creature has broken from its coffin and is even now tunneling to meet them. When the deck is stacked like this, even the strongest foundation could crumble.

This story featured surprisingly many characters for such a short piece and the climax was probably supposed to be when it all comes together and the separate storylines make sense as a whole. But the story as such failed to grab my attention and I mostly just read on because I wanted to get to the next story. The Queen of Hearts as well as some other known characters do show up but mostly to spout nonsense. And not the brilliant kind of nonsense Lewis Carroll gave us, just plain nonsense without much humor. Except for the occasional badam-tish line that made me roll my eyes rather than smile. I was hoping for some fantasy elements but even that bubble was burst. I’ll give the writer props for the idea but I think it would have needed more characterisation and depth to work. Rating: 3,5/10

Hilary Thomas – Knave

Blurb: In the city they call Wonderland, the Queen calls the shots. If she doesn’t like the way you’re playing the game, she’ll give you the axe. Permanently. Jack Knave is an investigator, a man of many talents, an occasional blade for The Crown; and he’s the best at what he does. He knows every face in the city, every move they make, every connection. Except one.When a mysterious woman shows up in town, Jack is sure she’s not just here for the tourism. But the more he digs, the less he knows. Finding the answers means getting close to her, but she’s not the only one with secrets. Somebody’s been stealing from the Queen, and it looks like Jack’s taking the fall. Alice could seal his fate with a word—or not. With no options left, and the odds stacked against him, Jack must make a desperate gamble to survive. Whether his luck holds out or he’s left out to dry, one thing’s for certain: he can’t afford to lose his head.

Jack Knave lives in the city of Wonderland and the arrival of a certain dame named Alice turns things upside down. This is Wonderland goes noir. I was surprised by how much that genre mash-up appealed to me. But an idea alone does not make a good story. Characters may have names that sound like they are from Wonderland (Jimmy Cheshire, Jack Knave, The Queen, Kingsley, Alice) but they are walking stereotypes. I don’t read noir fiction but I have seen a few movies that fit the description. There is nothing new or original about this story. There also happens to be no magic whatsoever and the big reveal (if, indeed, it is supposed to be a big reveal) was painfully predictable. All of that said, I enjoyed the story more than “House of Cards”. The prose wasn’t a revelation but easy enough to read and the plot was fast-paced and had a nice flow to it. Probably not a story I will remember for long, but enjoyable, nonetheless. Recommended with reservations. Rating: 5,5/10

C.A. Young – The World in a Thimble

Blurb: Toby Fitzsimmons hates the creepy sculpture of Alice on display in his gallery, but when it drops him into Wonderland for real, he’s not prepared for what he finds. From real living furniture to scoutmasters and cowboys to coyotes who really do go everywhere, Toby finds himself in a Wonderland that’s more deadly, and much more American, than the one he remembers reading about as a boy. At the heart of it all is the Catmistress, who rules over the city’s dark alleys and knows the secret of the Cheshire trick. In this strange new world, Toby will need all the help he can get to find his way home. Before that, though, he’ll have to find a way to keep from losing himself. Wonderland, it seems, changes everything it touches. And then there’s the thing in the sewers…

This time around, the story starts in a modern day setting with gallery owner Toby, who spends his time as a punching bag for Hambrick, a man whose collection he’s showing in said gallery. With a little help from the Alice sculpture on display, he falls into Wonderland. I was insanely happy to actually read a story that took me to Wonderland and showed me some of its marvels. There are flying coyotes (who can talk, of course), cats who know the Cheshire Trick, depressed fountains, and bottles that say “drink me”. It could have been so nice. But the writing is clumsy at best, the characters – including Toby – are very flat, and the storyline is predictable. I did enjoy the craziness of Wonderland and its inhabitants but the description dumps and the characters left me rather unimpressed. Rating: 5/10

Overall, the first story was my favorite because it hit the tone of the original most closely and, while not showing us actual Wonderland, gave well-known characters a new personality. It had atmosphere and a good plot. I liked “Knave” second best, despite its stereotypical characters and predictable plotline. At least the idea was original and the execution okay. As a collection, I didn’t love it and wouldn’t recommend it to everyone. But if you love Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and want to see its characters wearing new cloaks, this might be right for you.

RATING: 5/10  -  Meh