Wish List

Between the public library and my library, there are more books to be read than I will ever get to, and yet I am constantly adding to my wish list. Here are three new books that I want to read, courtesy of other great book bloggers.


Fledgling by Octavia Butler, from Shelf Love:

This is what the best science fiction and fantasy can do. It forces us to question our assumptions and look carefully at the very roots of our morality.

The Smart One and the Pretty One by Claire LaZebnik, from Pop Culture Junkie:

So besides the fact that I felt like those characters were very real to me, this book was just funny. Your everyday, can't help it funny! That's just who they were. I loved that and found myself laughing often while reading this

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Paper Towns by John Green, from bookshelves of doom:

Okay, first of all, thumbs up. No reservations at all. ... Paper Towns is melancholy, laugh-out-loud-funny, downright sad, often hopeful and always thoughtful.

Enjoy!

Book Review: Blue Sword

As a follow-up note to my previous review of The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley, I thought I would also write about the book's prequel, The Blue Sword.

The Blue Sword takes place generations after the events of Hero; Aerin is a legend and the former land of Damar is part of the Homeland empire. After her father dies, Harry Crewe is sent there to live with her soldier brother. She is drawn to the hills and to the free-folk who live there, and their king, Corlath, is in return drawn to her. He abducts her, trains her, and she becomes Harimad-sol, the first woman since Aerin to wield the blue sword.

This is a fun book to read -- the story is interesting and the people and places feel real. Unlike my experience with Hero, however, I first read this book as teenager, not as a kid. I think that may be why I couldn't get past Corlath kidnapping Harry, which is a very pivotal plot point. While I enjoyed the book, this event colored my opinion of the characters and because of it, I had a hard time with the ending. Maybe some authors can gloss over difficult subjects in their books for younger readers, but Robin McKinley is generally good about confronting them head on and I thought this was a bit of a cop out. None of this is to say that I don't think its a good book; it is and I recommend it to any young adult reader. I just think it could have been better.

As a side note, the question may come up of which book should you read first -- Hero, since its first chronologically or Sword, as it was written first? This is probably my bias since this is how I read them, but I would suggest reading Hero first, especially for younger readers. Both books stand alone pretty well, though, so its fine either way.

Buy The Blue Sword on Amazon.

Book Review: The Hero and The Crown

I was at Border's yesterday and they were having a book drive for the Alameda Boy's & Girl's Club. Out of the stack of books they had as suggestions for donations, The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley caught my eye -- I had to buy it for them, because I wanted to make sure those kids had the opportunity to read this fantastic book. I first read this book in the 8th grade, when a sympathetic teacher gave me a copy. Since then, this has continued to be one of my "comfort food" books -- a book I pick off the shelf and cuddle up with once a year.

Aerin, the book's heroine, is a familiar character -- the outsider in a crowd, the girl who doesn't fit in. (Yeah, its something a pre-teen girl could relate to.) Despite being the king's daughter, she is struggling to find her place in the kingdom. Instead of following the usual path a princess (or sola, in Damar) should take, Aerin follows her own course and becomes the hero the kingdom didn't know they needed. I highly recommend this book for young adult readers, whether they are young or not.

Buy The Hero and the Crown on Amazon.