STOP: Micro Reviews and Listen!
Books
YA/MG fiction
The Crown of Embers (***** – loved)
Glimmer (**** – liked)
Hunger: A Gone Novel (*** – enjoyed)
Shadowland (*** – enjoyed)
Lies: A Gone Novel (*** – enjoyed)
Ninth Key (*** – enjoyed)
Adult fiction
The Tragedy of Arthur (**** – liked)
Alif the Unseen (**** – liked)
The Sinner (**** – liked)
Exit Sherlock Holmes (I don’t know how to rate this. If you liked Cowboys & Aliens, you’ll like it.)
Sherlock Holmes and the Thistle of Scotland (*** – enjoyed)
The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson (YA fantasy novel, 2012) – What can I say, I really love this main character, Elisa. Like I’ve mentioned before, I’m a sucker for characters who are trying their best to be a good person despite their own shortcomings in complicated and ambiguous circumstances. I could take or leave the romantic subplot in this novel, but I can’t wait to pick up the next book in the series (The Bitter Kingdom, Fall 2013).
Glimmer by Phoebe Kitanidis (YA fantasy novel, 2012) – This novel opens with two teens waking up naked in bed together and discovering neither of them remembers who they are or what’s going on. As the two characters piece together the situation, so does the reader. I enjoyed how each of the otherwise likeable protagonists has clear and shocking flaws that affect their actions in important ways.
Hunger: A Gone Novel by Michael Grant (YA fantasy novel, 2009) – Trapped in a mysterious barrier inside which anyone over 15 disappears and food is growing scarce, the good kids must stop the bad kids and the evil creature known as the gaiaphage from taking over the local nuclear plant. I take back my initial judgement of this series, which was lukewarm: the plotting and pacing is terrific. However, the writing and characterization still don’t do much for me.
Shadowland by Meg Cabot (YA fantasy novel, 2000) – Suze Simon, a teenager who helps ghosts move on to the next stage of the afterlife, tangles with the disturbed spirit of a suicide at her new school when her mother’s recent marriage relocates them both from New York to California. I loved the no-BS, assertive protagonist who doesn’t put up with her classmates’ attempts at bullying. The plotting was a little too light for me, but I enjoyed the narrator’s vivid voice and the quick pacing.
Lies: A Gone Novel by Michael Grant (YA fantasy novel, 2010) – The third novel in Michael Grant’s Gone series continues with exciting plotting that throws in a bunch of new elements while still following old threads. Again, the writing didn’t grip me. But I liked that the author allows readers to decide whether they want to take some dream-like scenes as proof of characters’ claims that children who die within the barrier are restored to their families on the outside, and I especially liked that the book makes readers wonder if the good guys are doing the right thing, given the possibility that the claim is true.
Ninth Key by Meg Cabot (YA fantasy novel, 2001) – This time, Suze Simon’s attempt to fulfill the last request of a lady ghost lands her in the middle of a bunch of corporate murders. Also, vampires might be real. I still loved the protagonist and her voice, but I found the mystery aspect of this novel frustrating — it was too Hardy-Boys for me to think that anyone nice would really turn out to be the bad guy or to feel like the narrator was in any significant danger.
The Tragedy of Arthur by Arthur Phillips (literary novel, 2011) – Thanks, Katie, for recommending this to me! The narrator of this novel, a writer whose con-man father seems to have discovered a new play by William Shakespeare (included in full), explores the moral significance of truth vs. fiction. The prose is engrossing, but I didn’t much like the main character. I’m not sure what I think when it comes to playing is-this-real games with one’s audience, but I do know that I find that aspect of the book annoying.
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson (speculative fiction novel, 2012) – Our protagonist, a young, male hacker who goes by the handle Alif, finds himself navigating a world where Arab-Spring-style revolutionaries mingle with transcendental jinn when he comes into the possession of a life-changing book called the Alf Yeom. I liked how the plot and style of this book mirror tales one might find in the One Thousand and One Nights, and how the author interweaves high-tech computer and political plot points with magic and mystical beings.
The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen (thriller novel, 2004) – I cheated by reading the third Rizzoli & Isles book before the second, but, really, it didn’t make this story of murdered nuns too difficult to follow. This will probably come as a total shock, but I love reading about two strong and intriguing female protagonists who nevertheless have big vulnerabilities. On the other hand, I do prefer my fictional criminals to be scarier, and I was morbidly disappointed that the eventual solution wasn’t as horrifying as the build-up seemed to promise.
Exit Sherlock Holmes by Robert Lee Hall (… it’s a novel, and there’s a mystery?, 1977) – I don’t even. And neither will you. This extremely entertaining novel promises to reveal the strange truth about Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty, and it doesn’t matter if you’ve read Michael Dibdin or seen all sorts of wacky thriller hijinks: you are not prepared for the bizarre climax it has in store.
Sherlock Holmes and the Thistle of Scotland by L. B. Greenwood (mystery novel, 1990) – In this Sherlock Holmes pastiche, Holmes and Watson track down a famous gemstone that disappeared in front of everyone during its owner’s wedding celebrations. The mystery feels too simple, since it’s pretty easy to guess whodunnit, but Watson’s voice is well done. Because contemporary takes on Holmes tend to focus on his rudeness and eccentricities, I was interested in how this author offered a canonically reasonable Holmes who was nevertheless polite, charming, and sympathetic.