Touch

by Michelle Sagara

Story summary: Sequel to Silence. The cliffhanger to the last book added a new, spoilery player to the mix. There are also more Necromancers to kill Emma, and a small, lost, autistic ghost to save.

Thoughts: I loved this just as much as the first one, although I'm not sure if technically it was as well written. There were a lot of potentially-distracting differing viewpoints, and it seemed less polished in some ways. But in truth, I really didn't care. This is the kind of story that appeals to me very personally, and the kind of story I would write if I were not writing the To Be or Not to Be: A Chooseable-Path Adventure type of book. There is the framework of a fantasy adventure story, but mostly it concentrates on the characters and their thought processes. The multiple viewpoints then just adds to the enjoyment instead of detracting like I feel it ought to.

Some notes:
--There was a romance this time around, but I loved it. The buildup was slow, and it wasn't necessarily the obvious choice. (Note: I realized after writing this that there were actually two, or even three if you included her mother. But I'm speaking of the one that developed in this book, not that one that was already established and then rekindled due to unusual circumstances.)
--I thought Eric was a bit shortchanged this time around. He was never my favourite character, but I think I could still like him quite a lot if some time were actually spent on him. There were some intriguing hints that there might be a lot more going on with him than suspected, though.
--I'm also not totally sure about Amy. On the one hand, she is undeniably awesome. But on the other, it seems like maybe we're told about how awesome she is rather than shown. I do like her, but I think I'd like her to have a bigger part in the next book.

Grade: 3 1/2 stars

Silence

by Michelle Sagara

Story summary: One fateful visit to her boyfriend's grave reveals that there is something special about Emma: she is a Necromancer, and can see and touch the dead. And then two newcomers show up at her school, who turn out to be hunters of Necromancers, sent to kill her.

Thoughts: Surprisingly delightful book. When I read the inside cover, it sounded like a stereotypical YA book without any particular redeeming qualities. But it came recommended by someone so I tried it out, and I'm very glad I did. On the surface, I suppose it is fairly normal for a YA book nowadays--there's the ordinary girl who turns out to be special, and surprise! All that paranormal stuff is real! She meets a boy who is involved with all the said paranormal stuff, then gathers a group of other teenagers around her, and together they fight evil. But this book has some important differences from the standard fare. Emma's boyfriend and father both recently passed away, and she is still suffering from the grief. Partly because of this, the characters' reactions are all much more realistic. There is no romance at all, for instance (although there is the distinct possibility of some in the future). This seems almost unheard of to me for this type of book. But even if there had been, although it would have lessened my opinion, I still would have had a lot of fun with this book because of the secondary characters. I love me a group of evil-fighting teens a la Buffy, and this bunch was awesome. I especially liked the autistic character, Michael. I believe one of Sagara's own sons is autistic, so he is portrayed very well, as a person in his own right with flaws and strengths.

P.S. Just for the record, because I like to keep track of these things for my own amusement, Chase was my favourite character here. I'm not totally sure why, but his kind of character really appeals to me when they are a secondary character. I'm not sure I would have liked him as much if he had taken Eric's place.
P.P.S. Also, Sagara is Canadian! The whole book takes place in Toronto. Go Canada!
P.P.P.S. I have also now reviewed the sequel, Touch.

Grade: 3 1/2 stars

The Leap

by Jonathan Stroud

Story summary: Charlie's best friend Max drowned in pool, and she's not taking it very well. She hasn't brought up since the beginning the fact that she believes Max didn't drown, he was taken. By a strange creature who lived in the pool. Is Charlie right, is there something strange and supernatural going on here, and she is the only one who can save Max? Or is Charlie falling slowly more and more into insanity?

Thoughts: Short but sweet. Very creepy and atmospheric, with some uncertainty and ambiguity that I find intruiging. I love all of Jonathan Stroud's books, although I think he got better with time. The Bartimeaus trilogy are among my favourite books ever, and Lockwood & Co is looking to be a fantastic series. While this and Buried Fire and The Last Siege are good and enjoyable, they are also a bit short and don't stand out in the same way.

Grade: 3 stars

A Severe Mercy

by Sheldon Vanauken

Grade: 4 1/2 stars

Thoughts: Amazing book telling the story of how the author, "Van", and his wife Jean ("Davy") met each other, married, met C. S. Lewis, converted to Christianity, and suffered through Davy's illness and eventual death (not a spoiler--he gives it away in the first chapter).

Beauty was a very strong theme in this book. Their journey started with beauty, with a pagan appreciation of creation, and ended with a fuller, though more sorrowful, appreciation of Beauty Himself. Here's a quote on beauty from right near the beginning:

"[Beauty was] for him the link between the ships and the woods and the poems. He remembered as though it were but a few days ago that winter night, himself too young even to know the meaning of beauty, when he had looked up at a delicate tracery of bare black branches against the icy glittering stars: suddenly something that was, all at once, pain and longing and adoring had welled up in him, almost choking him. It was long afterwards that he realised that it had been his first aesthetic experience. That nameless something that had stopped his heart was Beauty. Even now, for him, "bare branches against the stars" was a synonym for beauty." (pg. 7)

Linked strongly to beauty, and also mentioned frequently throughout this book, were ideas on eternity and timelessness. I've always found Lewis's descriptions of this to be the most inspiring I have ever read, and Vanauken obviously has similar ideas. The description of the "moment made eternity" (pg. 69) on their boat the Grey Goose is too long to quote here, but it is profound and I understand completely what he is describing, though I don't think I've ever experienced it to quite the same degree.

There were of course many other interesting observations and discussions. I liked his thought near the beginning about emotions, that "maybe girls with their tears and laughter were getting more out of life" (pg. 8). I liked the idea they had that "one might wake the other in the night and ask for a cup of water; and the other would peacefully (and sleepily) fetch it", and that "[they] considered it a very great courtesy to ask for the cup as well as to fetch it" (pg. 31). I try to explain this idea to people when they're feeling bad for asking me to do something--that they are actually doing me as great a courtesy as I am doing them. They don't often want to accept that, but I was happy to see someone agrees with me at least. I also found his discussion on women vs. men on page 194 rather interesting, although too short. It's a topic I think about frequently, and haven't yet decided my thoughts on. I believe he discusses this further in Under the Mercy, though, so I shall look forward to that.

An added bonus are the letters by C. S. Lewis to Vanauken (shown in this book in their entirety), which are little gems of Lewisian wisdom. I am very glad I discovered them. I found his letter about homosexuality (pg. 146) particularly interesting. (You can find the relevant part of that letter online.)

I would love, in conclusion, to quote the last chapter on loss and beauty, sorrow and joy, but this is not the place for it. Go read it yourself.

To Be Or Not To Be: A Choosable Path Adventure

by Ryan North, William Shakespeare, and YOU

Grade: 5 stars
Story summary: Hamlet. As a Choose Your Own Adventure story. Enough said.

Thoughts: I gave this 5 stars not because it was so terribly brilliant, or the best book I'd ever read, but because it is perfectly suited to me. This is pretty much the book I wish I had written. I mean, it's Hamlet as a Choose Your Own Adventure story. I've always loved Choose Your Own Adventure stories, and this one is hilarious and meta and so thick and full of good stuff--I completely love it. I don't want to spoil too much, but there is so much awesome in this that I think I'm fairly safe. So as some examples: there is the ending where you get to turn into a gamma-irradiated monster (pg. 274), or the one where you're suddenly in Macbeth (pg. 260), or super awesome ones like the one where you get 50 billion decapoints for doing such a great job (pg. 719). And there are tons of somewhat normal ones, where you settle down with Ophelia or do projects that are good for the economy or murder the whole town. There's also a way where you can follow the actual story of Hamlet, the choices marked with Yorick skulls.

(I always do the first run through one of these books trying to choose exactly as I would as myself in real life. Through this method I (as Ophelia) helped Hamlet put Claudius in prison by working through the legal system. I got 100 out of 100 LEGAL JUSTICE POINTS, but only 3 ADVENTURE POINTS, because it was sort of a boring ending. (pg. 160))

If I had to have any criticism, it would be that Ryan North didn't always seem to have the best understanding of some of the themes and happenings of Hamlet. As one example, he didn't seem to understand why Hamlet didn't want to kill his uncle while his uncle was praying. Which I actually find a rather fascinating insight on how far Hamlet has gone by that point. But since the whole book was rather silly and completely for fun, these little issues really didn't bother me.

Also, coming back to the awesomeness: every single ending is fabulously illustrated by a different artist (many of whom I recognize from webcomics and such on the internet (e.g. Ethan Nicolle from Axe Cop!!!)). Here are two sample illustrations for your viewing pleasure, but there are many more awesome ones.

P.S. This is just for me, or for people that have already read the whole book, but I wanted to make note of some of my favourite parts and endings so I could reference them later if I wanted to (and not have to search the whole darn book). This will be encoded in rot13 to prevent spoilers, but you can translate if you want.

V ernyyl guvax gung zl snibhevgr raqvat jnf ct. 356, jurer Ubengvb tbg gb unir uvf bja fznyy nqiragher. V'ir nyjnlf unq n fbsg fcbg sbe Ubengvb, rira gubhtu ur qvqa'g ernyyl qb zhpu va gur cynl. Naq V gubhtug gur jubyr "Lbh or TERNG" ynfg yvar jnf dhvgr fjrrg. Gur raq ba ct. 379 jnf nyfb npghnyyl engure vafcvevat va n fvzvyne jnl.
Naq gura gurer jrer gur qbjaevtug uvynevbhf raqvatf...  V guvax V jvyy svaq gur cvpgher bs Unzyrg ynlvat ba gur sybbe orvat "pnfhny" va sebag bs gur fgnoorq phegnva crecrghnyyl shaal. (Cvpgher ba ct. 607, sebz gur raqvat ba ct. 26.) Fvzvyneyl gur raqvat ba ct. 75 jvgu gur cvpgher ba ct. 163 (gubhtu sbe fbzr ernfba V svaq gur cvpgher ba ct. 607 fyvtugyl shaavre). Gur raqvat jurer lbh qrpvqr gb qvgpu ernyvfz nygbtrgure (sbetrg gur cntr..., cvpgher ba ct. 197), gur bar jurer lbh nf Bcuryvn trg n ernyyl zhfpyrl nez ("Naq va gur raq...vfa'g gung gur zbfg jr nyy pna ubcr sbe?") (ct. 624), naq gur bar jurer, ybat fgbel fubeg, vg gheaf bhg xvyyvat Cbybavhf, phggvat uvz hc, fghssvat uvz vagb ontf, naq chggvat gur ontf vagb fgrj oevrsyl bayl gb erzbir gurz vf vyyrtny? (ct. 541)
Gurer jrer whfg fb znal njrfbzr raqvatf... gur bar jurer vg gheaf bhg lbh'er va gur Tubfgohfgref zbivr abj (ct. 233), be gur bar jurer lbh ohvyq n znpuvar gb perngr n arj gvzryvar (ct. 229) naq unir gb qb pbzcyvpngrq zngu gb raq hc ba guvf arj gvzryvar (ct. 158) jurer lbh zrrg gur bgure irefvba bs lbhefrys (naq trg n ybat n yvggyr gbbb jryy...). V guvax glvat sbe svefg jvgu gur Ubengvb raqvat zvtug or gur bar gung fcrpvsvpnyyl gryyf lbh vg'f na njrfbzr raqvat: ba ct. 268, lbh, nf gur tubfg bs Unzyrg, wbva sbeprf jvgu lbhe qrnq sngure va n uhtr tubfg-ba-tubfg jner sbe gur fheiviny bs gur nsgreyvsr. Lbh ner yrnqvat gur nezvrf bs uhznavgl'f terngrfg tubfg vagb onggyr, naq znxr n fhcre qenzngvp cer-onggyr fcrrpu. "Yrg'f qb guvf, Unzyrg," Senaxyva Q. Ebbfriryg fnlf, pbpxvat uvf fubgtha. Guvf vf na njrfbzr raqvat.
Naq bs pbhefr, gurer jrer cyragl bs njrfbzr ovgf fcevaxyrq guebhtubhg gur obbx, orsber lbh rira tbg gb na raqvat. V ybirq Bcuryvn naq Unzyrg'f ybat "Jnlf gb Zheqre n Xvat" yvfg (ct. 538), naq gur jubyr "Pubbfr Lbhe Bja Nqiragher" fgbel jvguva guvf "Pubbfr Lbhe Bja Nqiragher" fgbel, naq nyy gur ersreraprf gb bgure  aba-rkvfgrag "Pubbfr Lbhe Bja Nqiragher" fgbevrf (yvxr gur njrfbzryl zrgn qvfphffvba jvgu gur nhgube ba ct. 10),  be gur yvggyr ovg ba ct. 337 gung vg gheaf bhg lbh pna'g trg gb guebhtu nal cngu (orpnhfr vg jnf vafregrq guebhtu gur gvzr-fcnpr pbagvahhz ol gur Bzrtn Cebgbpby...ybat fgbel). Naq gura gurer jnf gur ubarfg-gb-tbbqarff genvavat zbagntr! (ct. 508) V ybbbir genvavat zbagntrf!!!

Maaaaan, this P.S. went on for a long time... Sorry... this book makes me very enthusiastic, even when I'm just making notes for myself in code so noone can read them.

Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You

by Sam Gosling

Grade: 3 stars

Thoughts: Gosling, a professor of psychology, talks about how people's belongings can give you information about their personality. Quite a fascinating topic, I think. Although there was much less actually about that topic than I was expecting. Much of this book was taken up explaining a current theory of personality types and other such background information. I would have liked more actual data and scientific studies.

Nonetheless, there were some very interesting tidbits of information you could pick up, especially when it wasn't about what people's stuff actually says about them, but what other people think people's stuff says about them. For example, people think "the presence of art and books on art [infers] that occupants leaned to the Left" (politically). But that's not the case at all (although sports-related decor does correlate with leanings to the Right). (page 6) There were several long tables comparing what observers relied on to make judgments about people's personalities, and what they should have relied on. (page 93, 99, 172, & 182)  As a short example: people thought a bedroom's occupant was high on the neuroticism personality trait when the air in their bedroom was stale. In actuality, there is no correlation, although people with high neuroticism do tend to have more inspirational posters. (pg. 172)

Here are a couple other interesting things I learnt:
--The order in which you tell someone something, or see something in someone's house, really does matter. (Such as the example of estimating products with the large numbers first vs. small numbers (pg. 188).) This seems obvious, but it's something I unfortunately tend to miss sometimes in conversation.
--I was also reminded again about hindsight bias. If Gosling showed an audience the results of studies first, instead of asking them to guess the results, they were not nearly as surprised. (pg. 6)

RED Book Awards 2013

This year, in addition to the Top Ten (Or So) lists of covers and books, I've decided to do some other awards, to remember all the great stuff I was unable to properly cover in those lists. I've decided to do this even though it's way past the end of last year, and I'm so late now. But I want this summary, so here goes. (Prepare for many ties and winners greatly dependent on my not-very-good memory, since I have no time now to be thorough--also note, the runners up are not in any particular order.)

Favourite Central Female Character: Cordelia from Shard of Honor and Barrayar. I find it difficult to explain why I like her so much. Her compassion, her bravery, her "fountains of honor", her relationship with Bothari, her theism. That's a start, although not adequate.
Runners up: >>Kat from Stolen Magic (and its prequels): indeed incorrigible, I can only imagine what she'll be like when she grows up. >>Saturday from Hero: the more gruff and non-magical of the seven sisters, but it turns out just as prone to adventure. >>Seraphina from Seraphina: grumpy and music loving. >>Alexandria from Goose Chase: also delightfully grumpy.

Favourite Central Male Character: Miles Vorkosigan from The Warrior's Apprentice and most of the rest of the books in the Vorkosigan Saga. Miles completely stole my heart. Brilliant little man with enough "forward momentum" to conquer the universe.
Runners up: >>Peregrine from Hero: a very atypical male love interest (which I like). Also just a little bit strange, which is understandable given is rather unusual style of imprisonment.  >>Lockwood from The Screaming Staircase: at the end of this first book in the series, he is still a fairly mysterious character, so my views may change as I get to know him better. But he is already terribly charismatic, so my hopes are very high indeed. >>The Prince of Dorloo from Goose Chase: because he was sweet and and amusing and also rather unusual for a love interest.



Favourite Secondary Female Character: Wyatt from Vortex. She's socially awkward and brilliant and definitely my favourite thing about the series. Also, as a computer programmer myself, I appreciate the fact that she's a brilliant coder.
Runners up: >>Riza Hawkeye and Olivier Armstrong from Fullmetal Alchemist: Riza is the intensely loyal, battle-scarred lieutenant and Olivier is the cold, tough queen of the north. >>Diana from Light: complex, brave, and tragic in many ways. My favourite character from this series.




Favourite Secondary Male Character: a tie between Peter Wiggin from the Shadow series and Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist. Peter is my favourite thing about the Shadow series after Ender's Shadow--he's so terribly clever, and the epitome of a Slytherin. He also has all these issues he tries to overcome, and struggles with the cruel, sadistic, and whiny side of himself. And Roy! Roy is so cool. His fire powers, his past as a soldier on the wrong side of the war, his ambition and leadership qualities. Also fairly Slytherin.
Runners up: >>Greed and Pride and Kimblee from Fullmetal Alchemist: such amazing villains. Greed has the best character arc, and was one of the most fun characters in the manga. Pride I don't want to say too much about because of spoilers, but he was surprising and had very interesting and frightening powers. Kimblee was amoral and so creepy, but a great character with a good ending. >>George from The Screaming Staircase: sarcastic and really funny. Can't wait to read more of him. >>Cain from Light: fascinating relationship with his brother Sam, and with Diana (one of my favourite secondary female characters), and like her, also a rather complex and tragic character. >>Gregor from The Vor Game: although he appeared briefly in some of the other books in the Vorkosigan Saga, this was the only one where he had a main part. And he had so much character development in this one--he seemed so very much a real person, though an emperor. >>Bothari from Shards of Honor and other books in the Vorkosigan Saga: such a very sad and tragic life. A very fascinating man. >>Death from Breath: he's an anthropomorphic personification of death, so of course I love him. Plus, his suicide issue story line actually sort of worked, which surprised me.



Favourite Ensemble: a three way tie between the Hale family from Ordinary Magic, the Battle School kids from the Shadow series, and Team Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist. The Hale family is very much like a real family, and every one of them is interesting and likeable. The Battle School kids are a bunch of brilliant, volatile, not-quite adults attempting to seize power, save the world, or both. Team Mustang (not their canon name), consisting of Col. Roy Mustang, Lt. Riza Hawkeye, 2Lt. Jean Havoc, 2Lt. Heymans Breda, W.O.Vato Falman, and MSgt. Kain Fury, is a group of military persons, each with their own specific talent, struggling together to defeat the evil besetting their country, and to help Col. Mustang gain command.



Favourite Romance: Saturday and Peregrine from Hero. I am very picky about which romances I like, but something that often allows me to enjoy one quite a lot is an element of surprise or uniqueness. Some of the gender stereotypes are reversed in this book, in a way I quite like. And both of them are not exactly socially ideal. Saturday is large and gruff and Peregrine is just a little bit odd after his long entrapment.
Runners up: >>A spoiler-y romance from the end of The Shadow of the Giant: it comes as somewhat of a surprise, but I happened to love it. In fact, it may have tied for first if it weren't for the fact that I can't talk about it without spoiling it. Sorry. >>Goose Chase: very sweet. >>Also, I don't really know if I can include the barely hinted at romances in Ordinary Magic, or the not-exactly-canon romance between Roy and Riza in Fullmetal Alchemist, but I love them immensely, and it's my awards post, so I'm including them.

Favourite World: The Touchstone Trilogy. Discovering the alien world Cassandra's diary was definitely my favourite thing about these books. Especially the first one and a half books. I found it slightly less interesting when Cassandra stopped learning quite as much and began to settle down more.
Runners up: >>A Corner of White: definitely fantasy here, what with the animate colours and all that, but really fun. >>The Giver: really good building of a dystopian-masquerading-as-utopian world. >>Seraphina: Dragons! Music! Some of the world building struck me as pretty strange (sort of pseudo-Catholicism?), but there was enough cool stuff to make this a runner up. >>All books in the Vorkosigan Saga: I think these books are less about the world building and more about the characters and ideas, but there were some really interesting contrasting cultures, plus spaceships.

Favourite Surprisingly Good Book: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. I really didn't expect to like this one, since I was given it by a co-worker who had no idea of my taste in books. And then I didn't like it for the first little while, but because of the situation, I was forced to continue. And boy, was I glad I did. It was a fascinating story of a man's survival through war, being stranded in the middle of the ocean, being imprisoned in Japan, through starvation, despair, and loneliness. But it was one of the more uplifting and hopeful books I've read as well, and fully deserves this award.




Favourite Non-Fiction (Not Including Unbroken Because I Just Gave it an Award): I enjoyed all the non-fiction I read this year a lot, so this was a very difficult category to choose. Eventually I decided upon Of Other Worlds by C. S. Lewis. I didn't enjoy most of the stories included (which is why it got 4 1/2 stars instead of 5 stars), but everything else was fabulous, in the typical Lewis way. I sort of suspect this one won mostly because it was the most recently read so I remembered it more than the rest. But I needed some way of choosing a favourite, so I'm ok with that.
Runners up: Reflections on the Magic of Writing, Reflections on the Psalms, Ender's World, Music, Language, and the Brain.



Favourite Book Not Getting Enough Awards: There are a number of books that I really quite enjoyed, but they just never managed to trump the really good ones. So in order to showcase a book that I feel has been rather neglected, I'm giving this award to Darkwater. Darkwater was atmospheric with interesting characters and a good twist. Not quite as in depth as it could have been, perhaps, which is why it hasn't shown up on any lists so far. But I really enjoyed it and want it to get some sort of mention.
Runners up: >>How to Lead a Life of Crime: lots of fun. About a school for clever people, which is one of my favourite tropes. >>The two Skyship Academy books: great brotherly relationship, fun adventury-sci-fi plot, someone with the power of Fire. >>The Spark: complex characters, detailed and realistic world, very well written. >>The Discernment of Spirits: helpful discussion of Igantian rules. >>The Princess Curse: unusual romance, good main female character. >>Game: creepy and tense. I really like this series, and not only for their beautiful, blood-splattered covers. >>And more. But this is already too long. Seriously, I liked a lot of books this year.