I *may* have gone a bit overboard on the number of books read this week…
I have been more in the mood for my middle grade book projects and shorter books in general meaning that the three chunky adult fantasies left on my TBR, including this one, still hung out there as the last full week of March began. I figured that I might end up DNFing at least this one due to my track record with book box books which would free up more time for other books. That did not happen; I ended up enjoying this post-
Arthurian tale which confirmed to me that I have had more than enough of retellings of these myths but continuation/evolution of Arthurian tale type stories really work for me. In this narrative, the knights of the round table emerge from beneath the roots of ancient oaks whenever Britain is in peril. By the time this story opens only Kay, Arthur’s foster brother, and Lancelot remain, for reasons which will be revealed in the narrative. Britain is in shambles with all sorts of climate disasters – flooding major portions of territory – land sold off to the Chinese, and a few other things (the specifics of which I cannot remember at the time of writing) which hit a little too close to home for the potential future of my own country at the moment. Kay ends up meeting and being changed by a woman named Mariam who accidentally blows up a power plant in her efforts to keep fighting against what she sees going wrong in her country. So many of these characters – Kay, Mariam, Lancelot, and even a racist turned into a squirrel named Barry – find their beliefs challenged at a fundamental level. What they do after becoming unmoored will decided whether the world survives or crumbles. I really enjoyed this book.
This graphic novel tackled the serious and heavy topic of grief through a bus tour to see wacky roadside stops on the way to a lake rumored to be a magical, interspersed with flashbacks that progress backwards chronologically. The author handled the grief and how it affected both the main character and her mother who has sunk into a deep depression in a way that packs a gut punch as the author doles out small pieces of
information. Unfortunately, the wackiness of these roadside stops, some of which ventured toward the possible magical side clashed with the flashbacks bringing me out of immersion. I would put this on the classroom shelves but it’s not the best of the books that I have read from the specific list that I am working through.
Once again, I struggle to see what about this book made it something to recommend. The book starts with a prologue in which a little bit of the author’s feelings regarding the use of these chimps in the space program slips through and taints the main portion of the book a little. Then, in the main section, the author spends a chunk of time discussing the origins of the program, the training of the chimps and the two flights on which the
chimps partook. By the time the narrative got to that point, the author succumbed to the temptation of almost all space race related books to tell at least a brief history of space exploration from that point which, in this case, had no real bearing of the main point of the book. This does not seem like the kind of book that many, if any, middle schoolers would have interest in.
This book, told in verse, was almost perfect. The main character and her best friend set out on a marathon swim across Lake Tahoe with the best friend serving as her support crew. She does not have permission to do this since she knows that her dad will likely say no. She feels, however, that she has to do this though; she has to earn this record for the youngest ever to complete this swim since her mom would have to come home then.
This narrative tells the story both of this marathon swim and of the main character’s memoirs of her mother and struggling with the fact that her mom left and has not come back. Most of this narrative digs deep into these emotionally fraught memories, keeping the reader thoroughly engaged. I got to the end, though, and felt like the book left me with the short straw because the narrative ends right when she reaches shore with no attempt at any resolution to these complex thoughts and feelings leaving me as the reader conflicted.
I have no idea how to write a review for this book. For some reason, whether because I was absolutely not in the mood for epic fantasy or because there was something off about the book, I could not wrap m head around anything – not characters, plot, or magic systems. I kept trying so hard to put the pieces together and immerse myself int he plot but I could not. It’s like the book held me at arms length and would not let me in. I may try to reread this at some point in the
future but I do not feel strongly motivated to do so.
My epic fantasy reading slump (words I never expected to say) tinged this reading experience a little. Even with that, I still enjoyed this read and look forward to the conclusion of the trilogy. I appreciated the fact that Villoso included a summary/recap of the first book before starting into the events of book two. I also continue to enjoy how Villoso expands the world and weaves the seemingly unconnected events in the main
character’s attempt to journey home into the macro-plot of the trilogy. She also has incredible depth to the romantic relationships in a scenario that many other authors would struggle to convey well.
This book, another of the freshman set of books from Bindery, worked much better for me than the other one that I read, which I’m relieved about because one of my book subscriptions chose this book, meaning I get to keep it. This book takes copious inspiration from turn of the century gothic fantasy, horror, and mystery like Dracula and other such works with the main character being the daughter of Jonathan and Mina
Harker and her new coworker/partner being the daughter of Sherlock Holmes’ infamous archenemy, Moriarty. The main character (whose name I have, as usually, unfortunately forgotten) works in the research department of an agency devoted to maintaining order over magical monsters like grindylows and recently – supposedly – eliminated werewolves. She, herself, is a channel which leaves her vulnerable to manipulation from monsters yet evidence discovered at the scene of grisly murders in Paris compels her to force herself onto the case, ending up partnered with Helena Moriarty. (I have no idea why I remember her name and not the main characters.) I really enjoyed this book which blends fantasy, horror, and murder mystery. These types of genre blends tend to work well for me.
This book tells the story of a young girl who moved with her family from Vietnam in the years after its tragic civil war using two timelines. In the “present,” she, as a 12 year old, starts to write her memories of Vietnam, their move, and their first years in the US when she realizes that her younger sister remembers very little of their time in Vietnam. The other timeline is that story. Both timelines tell the story of the author
herself. I will always recommend memoirs, especially ones that give voice to people who have often not been listened to.
I loved this book so much. In this story, the main character finds herself with the opportunity to write to her heart’s content, fully diving into a fantasy novel unfolding in her mind in her new favorite class with her new favorite teacher. There’s just one problem; she can’t get past the first sentence. She doesn’t think that the drama at home between her academic superstar sister unmotivated to finish her college admission
essay and their parents or her struggle being separated from her former best friend because they ended up zoned to different middle schools had anything to do with her writer’s block. Or did it? This wannabe fantasy writer (me) who wrote the start to a different story on every computer in the computer lab at school (way before the time of the Cloud) absolutely loved the main character and the novel as a whole.
I really enjoyed this book. The main character finds herself with the unexpected ability to read the minds of every boy around her after a wish on an item important to her native Hawaiian culture. (Unfortunately, I do not remember the name of this item or how to spell it because I read the book as an audiobook and never saw it written down.) This ability comes to her at a time of crossroads. She lives in Hawaii with her
grandmother, having moved there with her father after her parents split. Her father now lives in Arizona because jobs on the mainland pay far more and the family needs that income to make ends meet on the island. The main character wants to move to Arizona to live with her father again and have a permanent home after years of moving around. (Her mother serves in the military so before her parents divorced, the family moved frequently.) She also wants a chance ot start over with friends because an incident at the start of the school year abruptly ended a super close friendship. Even though the main character can read minds, I do not really consider this a fantasy, primarily because this ability comes “naturally” from her native Hawaiian heritage. I found the story wholesome and quite enjoyable.
I really wanted to enjoy this book but the magical realism aspect of it that the author attempted to root in a possible reality of epigenetic expression severed any possible suspension of disbelief for me. The mixed-race main character loves baseball and, at the beginning of the novel, tries out for the local travel baseball team, the only opportunity to continue to play baseball
since the local middle school does not have organized sports and he has aged out of Little League. He lives, apparently, in a small town with little diversity although the author does not establish that well. The story also includes some flashbacks for the main character’s father to explain his expression of trauma-induced epigenetic expression, aka the fact that both the main character and his father emit smoke when they become angry. The way that the author used this aspect kept taking me out of the narrative because she tried to keep the story rooted in actual reality rather than leaning into the magical realism.
I think this is my favorite Tehlor Kay Mejia book. I really love how Mejia used the creepy, jealous spirit and new “friend” for the main character to show the effect of toxic, abusive (in this case supernaturally abusive) relationships and how those relationships can affect the fundamental way that someone things. I also think that the way Mejia handled the horrific side of the plot was so well done. I felt genuinely creeped out at times.
This book inspired me to pick up more from this author. The narrative takes place over a single day, picture day at school. The main character approaches the day with a bit of hesitancy, mainly because of everything overwhelming his brain from his daily life – stress from finances , his mom’s desperately needed new job, having to sleep on the couch because his grandma has moved in with them because she is no longer able to live on
her own due to Alzheimer’s, losing the relationship with the grandma he knew, and, most likely, undiagnosed OCD or anxiety disorder. It’s a lot to deal with that all seems to come to a head on this day. Harrell did such a masterful job weaving together all these elements and making the main character such a relatable person. I highly recommend this book.
This was not a bad book; it just did not quite work for me. Winnie Nash does not want to spend the summer with her grandmother or go every afternoon to the senior citizens club but her parents did not give her a choice. Her mom is pregnant again but that does not mean that Winnie will become a big sister. Multiple miscarriages have left her mother repeatedly falling into deep depressions each time, motivating Winnie to want to save all
her smiles for her mom. A few other things drive the plot of this book but it’s hard to become invested in the narrative because the author, unfortunately , did too good of a job making Winnie a surly, distant character who constantly pushes people away, in this case the reader as well. These types of narratives, the ones where something keeps me from being immersed, do not really work for me and end up really disappointing, especially when everything else about the novel has so much potential.
This narrative focused on the wrong thing. Emma clearly has all kinds of wants, desires, flaws, and potential for growth yet this book focused on Emma trying to magically Parent Trap her best friend’s parents so they will not divorce and her best friend will not have to move away. I liked pieces of this book but it read like the main character was in the wrong story or that something was just off which ended up being a let down because
Ireland filled this book with so much potentially good stuff.
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