8 posts tagged “young adult”
Finished: 17-September 2008
Story Synopsis:
The Italian Renaissance was a cultural explosion of art, architecture and learning, but it had a darker side. Two powerful families, the tyrannical Medici and their biggest rivals, the Pazzi, are tangled in a bloody struggle for ultimate power. Caught in the whirlwind is Flora,the last daughter of the Pazzi. As her beautiful older sister is being painted by the famed artist Botticelli, Flora is dreading her fate.Destined for life in a convent, Flora is determined to take matters into her own hands, even as her world crumbles around her. When Flora decides runs away, she has no idea that the decision will save her life. As her family falls to their murderous enemy, Flora must find anew life and a new identity.
Inspired by actual events, Primavera is a dazzling coming of age story set during a time of beauty and wealth, ambition, rivalry and brutality. Historical art references to Boticelli and his famous painting, Primavera, give this book an appeal similar to Girl with a Pearl Earring.
Commentary:
I was totally blown away by how good this book was. I wasn't expecting much; at the very least, it would have been a refreshing little romp through Renaissance Florence. However, you can tell from the crafting of the story that the author did her history homework. Florence under the Medicis wasn't all music and art and poetry. There's a lot of politics and machinations and brutality in there as well. And the author was able to capture the essence of that time without being too preachy or without softening her story to not offend.
Having read Girl with a Pearl Earring, I think that it's almost an injustice that this book be compared to that. Primavera is an honest-to-goodness refreshing book that does start with references to famous figures/items from history, but in this novel, there is less focus on the painting but more on the actual life of the protagonist, Flora.
I highly recommend this book. I don't feel that it's almost unfortunate that it was marketed as a young adult book, because adults who wouldn't ordinarily read YA have missed out on it.
[Image stolen from MTV]
If there's one thing that I've learned over the eons, it's that you can't give up on your family, how matter how tempting they make it. It doesn't matter if they hate you, or embarrass you, or simply don't appreciate your genius for inventing the Internet--
Finished: 27-June 2008
Story Synopsis:
Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can’t seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse -- Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy’s mom finds out, she knows it’s time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he’ll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon, a mystery unfolds and together with his friends -- one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena -- Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.
Commentary:
Okay, let's get this out of the way now -- yes, this book will remind you a lot of Harry Potter. Even the author, Rick Riordan, is perfectly aware of the comparisons between Percy Jackson and J.K. Rowling's boy wizard.
But barring that, The Lightning Thief is a good book and a fun read nonetheless. I think most people enjoy Greek mythology, and Riordan's riff on the Olympians living in the modern world is just plain inspired. Anybody who's even remotely familiar with the mythology will pick up on the references right away; it's even more fun to try to the guess on the character before he/she/it is fully introduced.
Riordan's writing is also faster, snappier than your average YA writer's. He doesn't waste time explaining all of the intricacies of his universe -- that'll come along eventually -- but takes you head-first into the action. Percy's not a bad protagonist either. He's somewhat reckless and impulsive, but hey, he is a 12-year old boy. I had a teensy bit of whiff of some Gary Stu traits (e.g. how awesome he is with the sword, etc.) but I guess it's easily explained by the fact that he is a demigod.
Liked this a whole lot, and it may be worth checking out the rest of the series.
Obtained: New York Comic-Con
Finished: 22-April 2008
Story Synopsis:
Twelve-year-old Julie has grown up hearing about the dangerous world of
fairy tales, 'The Wild', from which her mother, Rapunzel, escaped.
Now The Wild wants its characters back. Julie comes home from school to find her mother gone and a deep, dark forest swallowing her hometown. Julie must fight wicked witches, avoid glass slippers and fairy godmothers, fly griffins, and outwit ogres in order to rescue her mom and save her Massachusetts town from becoming a fairy-tale kingdom.
Commentary:
So what happens when fairy tale characters don't stay inside the books? What happens when they're real, living people -- possibly our neighbors even -- inhabiting our world right here and right now?
No, this isn't Fables. But it definitely draws from the same idea pool that seems to be prevalent in popular literature right now.
Julie Marchen is Rapunzel's daughter. She knows her mom is THAT Rapunzel, and that her grandmother is the witch who imprisoned her in the tower, but other than a few other sketchy details about their past and about the Wild (which is a crazy plant-like parasite living under bed), she essentially knows nothing. Julie's an interesting study because she isn't too heavily upset or worried about her family's "secret." It is what it is. It's more of an annoyance than anything else, but hey, all teens have to deal with some sort of craziness in their lives, right? Some people have skeletons in their closet, she just happens to have a beanstalk.
When the Wild goes, umm, wild and takes over their town, Julie has to decide whether to rescue her mother (and in the process, break every rule that she was told about dealing with the Wild) or to run away as far as she can. Guess which one she picks?
Silly personal anecdote: when I was waiting for Shannon Hale to sign a poster of her upcoming graphic novel Rapunzel's Revenge, I realized that Sarah Beth Durst, the author of Into the Wild, was standing behind me. I think I fawned for a bit, and said that I was looking forward to having her sign my copy of her book.
It's cute how these two authors are doing their own interpretations of a character who has not been my favorite. In Durst's novel, Rapunzel is practically a revolutionary, the one who led the other fairy tale characters out of captivity, out of the repetitive and never-ending cycle of redoing their stories. And that's possibly why I've been drawn to reading all these fairytale retellings -- it's fun to see how many versions of these archetypal tales writers could churn out, and how they redo the stories based on their experience or imagination.
I was able to get an ARC of the next book. I started it yesterday and it already looks as good as the first.
Obtained: Bookmooch
Finished: 19-Sept 2007
Story synopsis:
Rowena, the youngest of twelve sisters, loves to slip out of the castle at night and dance in a magical forest. Soon she convinces her sisters to join her. When Sir Ethan notices that his daughters' slippers look tattered every morning, he is certain they've been sneaking out. So he posts a challenge to all the suitors in the kingdom: The first man to discover where his daughters have been is free to marry the one he chooses.
Meanwhile a handsome young knight named Bedivere is involved in a challenge of his own: to return the powerful sword, Excalibur, to a mysterious lake. While looking for the lake, Bedivere meets the beautiful Rowena and falls for her. Bedivere knows that accepting Sir Ethan's challenge is the only opportunity for him to be with Rowena forever. But this puts both Bedivere and Rowena in a dangerous situation...one in which they risk their lives for a chance at love.
Commentary:Seriously, I don't know why I've only found out about this series just now.
The "Once Upon a Time" series (published by Simon Pulse) features fairly-well known young adult authors as they reinterpret many of the more popular "fairy tales" that we all read as children. This particular volume focuses on the story "The Twelve Dancing Princesses," with an Arthurian twist.
And, if you didn't know already, I'm a sucker for an Arthurian reinterpretation of any story. Especially if it involves either Galahad or (in this case) Bedivere.
It's been a while since I've enjoyed a romance novel. It's too cute how Rowena and Bedivere are so infatuated with each other, even though they've never met each other before -- but hey, it is a fairy tale so true love at first sight and all that.
Yes, the characterizations are shallow. But think about it, since the author is drawing on the tradition of the Arthurian characters, so it's almost unnecessary for her to flesh out these same characters yet again when even a novice to Arthurian literature could easily identify who's who. Like, really, do we have to go into how manipulative and ambitious Morgan Le Fay is? Or how noble and chivalrous Bedivere is? Not really.
A short and sweet novel, guaranteed to appeal to the sap in all of us.
"He doesn't seem very impressed," Cimorene commented in some amusement.
"Why should he be?" Kazul said.
"Well, you're a dragon," Cimorene answered, a little taken aback.
"What difference does that make to a cat?"
