Bibbity-Bobbety-Micro Reviews!
Books
MG/YA fiction
Akata Witch (**** – liked)
The Shadow Guests (***** – loved)
The Doom of the Haunted Opera (*** – enjoyed)
Liar’s Moon (**** – liked)
The December Rose (***** – loved)
Graceling (***** – loved)
Saranormal: Ghost Town (*** – enjoyed)
The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt (**** – liked)
The Haunted Night (*** – enjoyed)
The Cockatrice Boys (**** – liked)
The True Meaning of Smekday (***** – loved)
Savvy(***** – loved)
The Invisible Detective: the Paranormal Puppet Show (*** – enjoyed)
Skulduggery Pleasant: The Faceless Ones( – )
Adult fiction
The Mystery of Mercy Close (**** – liked)
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor (YA fantasy novel, 2011) – When Nigerian/American albino teenager Sunny learns she’s a Leopard Person and starts studying magic, she and her friends wind up having to fight an ancient evil. Really, the joy of this book is less the plot and more the jaw-dropping creative world-building. I love the idea of earning money for (and only for) learning, and it’s a pleasure to feel Sunny’s joy and frustration as she moves through her new magical world.
The Shadow Guests by Joan Aiken (MG fantasy novel, 1980) – Joan Aiken is an amazingly evocative historical/surreal/fantasy writer, and if you haven’t read her Midnight Is a Place or Is Underground, do yourself a favour and pick them up right now. The Shadow Guests is a little different from her pseudo-historical adventures: it’s the amazing story of Cosmo, a boy who must simultaneously cope with learning of a family curse, losing people he cares about, starting a new school, and, oh yeah, seeing some ghosts. I love the vivid realness that sucks the reader in.
The Doom of the Haunted Opera by John Bellairs and finished by Brad Strickland (MG horror novel, 1995) – I love John Bellairs’s Gothic horror novels for younger readers, particularly classics like The House With a Clock in Its Walls, but I’m not always as excited by Mr. Strickland’s completions of Bellairs’s unfinished manuscripts. In this story, series protagonist Lewis Barnavelt and his friend Rose-Rita struggle against the deadly spirit of a wicked wizard-slash-composer. I like how Strickland is true to Bellairs’s original nebbish and shy main character, but I don’t quite get the same chill from the writing.
Liar’s Moon by Elizabeth C. Bunce (YA fantasy novel, 2011) – Amid a web of religious, military, and magical political intrigue, a young thief must clear the name of her innocent (or is he?) friend. Although I sometimes got frustrated by the über-fantasy Celtic-y names, I loved the complications of the plot and the protagonist’s equally complicated emotional journey. There were just enough different factions to keep me occupied without confusing me, despite the fact that I haven’t yet read the first book of the series.
The December Rose by Leon Garfield (MG historical novel, 1986) – Leon Garfield is another amazing writer of historical fiction for young readers, and this story of a young chimney sweep who accidentally drops in (literally) on government conspirators is great. I like how Garfield shows that good people help the people around them to be good. And of course, he’s liberal with one of my favourite tropes: sometimes, bad guys are just good people on the wrong side.
Graceling by Kristin Cashore (YA fantasy novel, 2008) – Katsa, a teenager Graced with the supernatural talent of killing people, must learn that she can own her “gift” instead of letting it be owned by others. Katsa is a great character, and I loved the exploration of Graced individuals, and how they might use, hide, or misrepresent their talents. The final confrontation with the antagonist disappointed me a little, because I felt like the antagonist could have made things a lot worse for all the people the readers care about, but overall it was a great read.
Saranormal: Ghost Town by Phoebe Rivers (MG fantasy novel, 2012) – Female protagonists who can see ghosts seem to be something of a trend recently, and this is the first MG one I’ve seen. There was nothing in particular that drew me in about the plot or the protagonist, but the story was pleasant and fun. Also, I love the series title.
The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt by John Bellairs (MG horror novel, 1983) – Here’s vintage John Bellairs. He deftly mixes protagonist Johnny’s attempts to find a treasure guarded by a supernatural monster with more difficult developments like Johnny’s Air Force father going AWOL and his grandmother’s illness. I love how Bellairs gets in everything — ghosts, life-changing family events, making new friends when you’re shy — from a plausible kid’s perspective, going into just the right amount of emotional depth.
The Haunted Night by Joan Phipson (YA novel, 1970) – This suspense novel about four young women stuck alone in a rural house overnight is atmospheric. However, the ultimate resolution will feel ridiculous to contemporary readers. At least, it did to me.
The Cockatrice Boys by Joan Aiken (YA fantasy novel, 1993/1996) – An army of brave volunteers emerges from humanity’s underground hideaway to battle the carnivorous monsters that have taken over England. Some parts of this novel feel more like Roald Dahl than Joan Aiken — the darkly absurd, gruesome premise, and the sprawling, epic story. But Aiken’s trademarks are all there: engaging characters, vivid details, and unapologetic stark outcomes.
The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex (MG science fiction novel, 2007) – I love this hilarious story of Gratuity “Tip” Tucci, a girl trying to make her way to the designated human zone after a UFO abducts her mom, and aliens known as the Boov take over Earth. The voice is spot-on, and Rex gets the reader to laugh and cry along with Tip. Sometimes the humour veered a little too sharply into obvious satire for my taste (particularly in J. Lo’s [don’t ask] comics), but I still recommend this fantastic book to anyone who giggles when they say the word “Boov” aloud.
Savvy by Ingrid Law (MG fantasy novel, 2008) – A girl developing a magic talent on her thirteenth birthday tries to save her father, who’s been in a car accident. The characters and the storytelling and the voice are the real magic. I love how the author uses vivid and exciting words that keep on giving: for instance, “scumble” as a verb meaning “control your magic talent,” which works awesomely on its own, but which you later learn is tied into the painter’s meaning of “scumble.”
The Invisible Detective: the Paranormal Puppet Show by Justin Richards (YA fantasy/mystery novel, 2003/2007) – I don’t mind when stories don’t spoon-feed me the exposition — in fact, I prefer it — but I was bothered that I didn’t feel that I got any payoff from piecing together what was going on. In the past, four kids create a fake adult detective so they can solve “his” cases themselves; in the present, a kid with the same name as one of them finds the journal of his namesake in his own handwriting. My problem was, while either of these plots interested me on its own, the combination felt overstuffed, especially since they didn’t interact.
Skulduggery Pleasant: The Faceless Ones by Derek Landy (MG fantasy/mystery novel, 2009) – I read the first couple of books in this series a long time ago, but I found it relatively easy to pick up the story of fourteen-year-old Valkyrie, apprentice magic-user, and her mentor, skeleton detective Skulduggery Pleasant. This time, Valkyrie and Skulduggery must solve a series of murders to stop their perpetrators from returning amoral gods to Earth. The tone is cynical and funny, the plot is fast-moving, and the vague exploration of whether Skulduggery really ought to be training a fourteen-year-old in his dangerous line of work is interesting.
The Mystery of Mercy Close by Marian Keyes (chick-lit novel, 2012) – I almost didn’t read this novel, because I’m unfamiliar with the Walsh family series and thought it’d be more mystery than it was. Still, in the end, there were enough puzzles to keep me flipping pages (apparently all it takes for a plot to keep me happy is a concurrent mystery). I particularly liked the combination of the protagonist’s bamf attitude and hilarious observations with her real and devastating mental-health problems.