Ice

I’ve been reading a lot of cold books lately: First Light, some nonfiction global warming stuff and now Sarah Beth Durst’s latest, Ice. Does this mean I am ready for winter? Don’t think so. I am enjoying my 14 degrees today, thank you very much.

I had planned on saving Sarah’s book for the Christmas holiday, but I just couldn’t wait after reading Laini Taylor’s recent rave recommendation. So, with very high expectations, I started reading last week. The verdict? Yes Laini, I agree. This one is a winner, and it would indeed be perfect winter reading, especially if you happened to have a giant magical polar bear to snuggle up to.

Cassie Dasent has had an entirely unusual upbringing. She has grown up at an Arctic research station, where her father is a research scientist who studies polar bears. Add to this rare sort of home life the fact that Cassie’s mother has been gone from her life since Cassie was only a little girl. Cassie’s grandmother used to tell Cassie a fairy tale about her mother, saying that Cassie’s mother struck a bargain with the Polar Bear King and then was swept away to the ends of the earth and imprisoned in a troll castle. Cassie always thought that her grandmother’s story was just something exciting and entirely imaginary that her grandmother created for Cassie rather than telling the little girl the tragic truth that her mother had died. Turns out, granny wasn’t lying. The proof? On her 18th birthday, Cassie meets a talking polar bear, the Polar Bear King, and he agrees to rescue Cassie’s mother from the trolls on one condition. Cassie must marry him. Cassie agrees to the deal, and so begins an astonishing adventure as Cassie journeys to the Bear’s ice castle and eventually, across the Arctic and into the boreal forest, on a rescue mission of her own. Her life changes in ways that no fairy tale could have prepared her for.

If you’ve read and loved East by Edith Pattou or Jessica Day George’s Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow then absolutely, you’ll want to read this one. But I have to say, it’s different. It’s not just a straight up expansion or development of the East of the Sun, West of the Moon tale. Sarah’s novel feels entirely modern. The scientific aspect of the story, with the detailed evocation of life on a research station and Cassie’s interest in becoming a scientist who studies the polar bear population feels especially timely. I liked how this emphasis really made the magical element, when it arose, feel all the more fantastical. You could appreciate Cassie’s initial disbelief and then her ultimate wonder at the situation she found herself in, because she is very much situated in the “real world” at the outset. I imagine that Sarah did a lot of research about the experience of being a scientist in an arctic environment. The descriptions of the landscape, its brutal power and beauty, really shine in the narrative. The landscape is a character in the book, for sure. You can see why Cassie is in love with the Arctic. Another strength of the book is the creative explanation for the Polar Bear King’s animal form. I don’t want to reveal too much, but Sarah has come up with something pretty interesting to explain the bear’s ability to transform from animal to human. Cassie is as gutsy as they come, and her adventure is absolutely non-stop. This is a page-turner that goes way beyond the standard fairy-tale revisited. Full marks for a novel full of creativity, perfect evocation of setting, and an unexpected but entirely believable romance.

Ice is published by Simon and Schuster, Margaret K. McElderry Books

(and thanks to Sarah for sending me her copy to read!)

TBR: Runemarks

I’ve been eyeing Joanne Harris’s Runemarks for quite a while now. I’ve read great reviews and very lukewarm reviews. Still, today I bought it because it is finally in paperback. I’ve read a couple of Harris’s adult titles, and for me, they are perfect books to read when you just feel like a satisfying story that doesn’t take much out of you and leaves you feeling that all’s well with the world.

Here’s a trailer:

Which cover do you prefer?

Funny – totally different designs. I think the paperback (first one) has a lot more kid appeal. Apparently Harris is working on a sequel, Runelight.

If you’ve reviewed the book, drop off a link in the comments and I’ll add it into this post.

Odd and the Frost Giants

I think I need to create a new category for tagging reviews: ageless. (Or age-defying, or age-free?) Neil Gaiman’s Odd and the Frost Giants is the sort of story that anyone with even the tiniest smidge of youthful spirit left inside them will treasure. It’s a story to remind you of the first fairy tales you read by yourself, or had read to you. Remember? You were probably sitting tucked up in a blanket, far away in your imagination in cursed lands, with heroes on quests and magical creatures as your companions. That’s exactly what you’ll find in Gaiman’s most recent short tale inspired by Norse mythology.

Things are not well with Odd. His father has been lost in a Viking expedition. He’s been nearly crippled by an accident that left his leg shattered. Then, to make it all even harder to bear, there’s the endless winter that seems to have settled over his village. Everyone is grouchy and fearful about what will happen if spring never comes. So Odd takes off. He runs away, not with any real purpose. He finds a purpose, however, when three animals find him: a bear, a fox and an eagle. Odd learns these are no ordinary creatures, but in fact, they are much more than they seem. The three are Norse gods, Thor, Loki and Odin, who’ve been transformed into animals by an angry Frost Giant. The giant has captured the gods’ city, Asgard, and for as long as he is there, winter will not leave the land. Odd joins them and they journey to Asgard, where Odd proves that no matter how unassuming he might seem, or how insignificant, he is capable of great things.

This was such a sweet little tale. You’ll like Odd a great deal, for his pluck and his sheer determination. In a short book, we get a strong sense of his character. The Norse gods in animal form are pretty funny. They are a bumbling, blaming, frustrated trio and it’s hard not to laugh at their predicament. I imagine this will make a fabulous read aloud, partly because it’s so short. It could be enjoyed in just a few hours. For a child with any interest in mythology (aka most kids), it’s perfect. I’m thinking this is the stocking stuffer for Christmas this year. It has the feel of a tale that’s been around for a while, which is always the sort of book that grandparents, in particular, like to give. Also, it must be said that the book itself is lovely in its design. It’s small, with a wintry dark blue and gold colour theme going on, that really reinforces the idea of it as a classic-in-the-making. Brett Helquist’s illustrations are spot on, I only wish there had been even more of them, and maybe even one or two in colour plates. My favourite: the one where the three god / animals are grumping about their fate, trying to blame each other. The expressions say everything.

Here’s the trailer:

Gaiman wrote the book for World Book Day in the UK, an amazing-sounding annual event where kids get tokens for books for just £1. I wish Canada would jump onto that idea.

Odd and the Frost Giants is published by Harper.

Silksinger

Enchanting, spirited, wildly imaginative, thematically-rich – all of these words combined might begin to express the wonder that is Laini Taylor’s second Dreamdark book, Silksinger. If you haven’t read the first title, Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer, I’m jealous (read my review of Blackbringer here). Only a little bit jealous though, because Laini’s books fall into that rare category of story that you will want to read again and again as life goes on, so I know I will find as much delight in rereading as I did the first time around. I read Silksinger in the space of a day and a half, and I think that is exactly the way to enjoy it best, if you can spare the time to spend hours and hours reading. The reason? Laini’s faeire world feels as real as our own. You will see it, smell it, hear it. You will be there in it and you won’t want to step out of it and break the magic to do things like laundry and dog-walking and dinner-making. I was eager to read Silksinger because I loved Blackbringer so much but I wondered how Laini would manage to write something as wonderful. I don’t know how she managed it, but she did, that’s for sure.

After a brutal devil attack, Whisper Silksinger is the last faeire left in her clan, and now she carries with her the very thing the bloodthirsty devils were seeking. Held in a battered tea kettle is what looks like an ember. This is no ember, though, it is the Azazel, one of the world’s creators, asleep in ember form. Alone and hunted, Whisper must find a way to get the Azazel to the city of Nazneen, where she can place the ember inside the Azazel’s temple. Then the Djinn with awaken from his 4000 year sleep and his power will be restored, giving him the ability to fight the growing evil that threatens to destroy the Tapestry of Creation. Someone else seeks the Azazel. Hirik Mothmage hopes to find the Djinn so that he can become the Azazel’s champion and restore honour to his clan. Hirik and Whisper meet and begin traveling together, neither one trusting or knowing much of the other’s purpose. Not far behind them is Magpie Windwitch, the Magruwen’s champion, who speeds after Hirik and Whisper, hoping to keep them safe from the evil forces at their heels. Magpie can only protect the guardians from the villains she knows, however, and there is a greater evil working against the faeries that is almost ready to strike.

Once again, Laini offers readers a cast of characters so carefully crafted you’ll be hard-pressed to choose a favourite. Happily, old friends are back: Magpie and her band of crows and Talon, Batch Hangnail the imp, Bellatrix and Poppy all feature in Silksinger, as witty and feisty and warm as ever. I don’t really know where to begin with the new characters, every one of them is memorable, whether good or bad or in between. Whisper is a vulnerable thing, with hidden strength. I loved the idea of the Silksingers’ powers, their ability to weave incredible patterns in silk using song. Whisper keeps this ability hidden, but eventually, she demonstrates her gift in one of the most memorable sequences in the novel. Slomby, the snail-like slave creature, is a lovely character, fearful and sweet, worried and disappointed in his own powerlessness. Let’s just say that after reading Silksinger I’m hoping that Laini Taylor finds a way to bring everyone back in the final book of the trilogy. (Okay, maybe not some of the baddies, but all of the good guys).

Dreaming Anastasia Review & Giveaway

*Note: Winners of Dreaming Anastasia have been selected and contacted. Thanks for your comments!*

Over the past year I’ve started reading many more YA titles, and the more I read, the more I recognize that creativity in YA land is hard to find, particularly when it comes to novels with female main characters. There are so many stories about essentially the same kind of girl, facing the same sort of problem, with the same types of friends, family issues etc. etc. etc. Yawn. This summer especially I was getting more and more irked by the cookie-cutter nature of some of the teen titles I read. Enter Joy Preble.

Joy is a Class of 2k9 author whose debut YA novel, Dreaming Anastasia, will satisfy any reader’s craving for a story will serious creativity. As I got caught up in the world of Joy’s story, I kept stopping and thinking, “Wow, this is one of the more inventive plots I’ve read in a while.” So, here goes. I’ll try to capture it all in a short teaser.

Anastasia Romanov, the daughter of the last Tsar of Russia, survived the attack on her family, but she is trapped. Something saved her and for years she has been a prisoner. Her only escape comes through writing to her dead family and dreaming of the past. In present day Chicago, Anne Michaelson’s life is turning upside down. She’s been having terrifying dreams where she witnesses horrific events and sometimes feels as if she is someone else. Anne doesn’t share her nightmares with anyone until she meets Ethan, a mysterious stranger who offers Anne an outrageous and frightening explanation for what she’s been experiencing. Anne discovers she has powers that seem impossible.  She finds that she is linked to a place and a legendary family she never knew, and that it is her destiny to free the Russian princess.

There is real genre-bending (or genre-combining) going on in Dreaming Anastasia. It’s part historical fiction, with enough detail about the Romanovs to inspire readers’ curiosity and make fans of historical fiction feel at home. It’s also semi-fantastical, since Anne and Ethan and others have strong magical powers that they use for good and bad throughout the story. Preble works in the traditional Russian folk tale of Baba Yaga, the fearsome witch famous for eating up children with her iron teeth and for her strange hut that scrabbles around the forest on hen’s legs. Baba Yaga turns out to be one of the most unusual and captivating characters in the book, a witch with complex and unpredictable motivations. Finally, a lot of the story is entirely realistic, focusing on Anne’s day-to-day school and family life, standing in contrast to the fairy tale/fantasy/history elements interwoven throughout. I liked this combination very much because all of the different pieces really kept the pace of the narrative moving along rapidly. While I didn’t feel that any piece was significantly underdeveloped, as a historical fiction fan, I would have been happy to have more on Anastasia and her family’s past, but that’s really more of a personal preference than a flaw in the book.

Lips Touch

For some reason, when I read Laini Taylor’s amazing fantasy Blackbringer last year, I kept thinking, “I’ll bet she’d be good at writing something romantic.” I’m not talking Harlequin romance here people, I just mean a seriously romantic story. What can I say? I was right, and I’ve got Lips Touch to prove it.

I’m not generally a reader of short stories, so when I saw that Lips Touch: Three Times was a collection of short stories, my initial response was, “Too bad,” plus shoulder shrug. Well good news folks! The three tales in Laini’s book are each long, long enough to be broken down into chapters, in fact. That is to say, they are pretty substantial short stories, which is all good, because man can Laini Taylor write. Each of the stories is about a kiss. In the first, a girl who has always been an outsider finally gets noticed by the smoldering new guy at school. She fantasizes about kissing him, but she has no idea what the consequence of that kiss will be. In the second story, Ana has lived her whole life burdened by a curse. If she speaks, all who hear her will die. She has kept silent for years but now she is in love and she longs to break her silence to tell her suitor her true feelings. The final story introduces us to a girl who discovers the real reason why her mother never lets them stay in one place for long. She comes from a strange and violent other world, where a brutal and beautiful Queen rules over dreadful soulless creatures. The Queen and the girl are fated to meet. Shivery yet?

Laini Taylor has a wonderfully rich descriptive style, which helps you to imagine the characters, the settings and the worlds she creates to perfection. Here is a passage from the first story that reveals the gorgeousness of the prose:

” Kizzy wanted to be a woman who would dive off the prow of a sailboat into the sea, who would fall back in a tangle of sheets, laughing, and who could dance a tango, lazily stroke a leopard with her bare foot, freeze an enemy’s blood with her eyes, make promises she couldn’t possibly keep, and then shift the world to keep them. She wanted to write memoirs and autograph them at a tiny bookshop in Rome, with a line of admirers snaking down a pink-lit alley. She wanted to make love on a balcony, ruin someone, trade in esoteric knowledge, watch strangers as coolly as a cat. She wanted to be inscrutable, have a drink named after her, a love song written for her, and a handsome adventurer’s small airplane, champagne-christened Kizzy, which would vanish one day in a windstorm in Arabia so that she would have to mount a rescue operation involving camels, and wear and indigo veil against a stinging sand, just like the nomads. Kizzy wanted.”

Um… wow. There are authors who don’t succeed in giving readers as much sense of a character in the space of an entire novel, let alone in a single paragraph. That’s just one example. Another treat? I never saw the endings coming. That could be because Laini is loaded with creativity (definitely), and it could also be because you are always fully immersed in the moment of the story (again, definitely). You can’t put down this book without appreciating that Laini Taylor pays serious attention to crafting her work. It’s impressive and wholly satisfying for the reader. Here’s a writer who cares about details.

To make this even better, I think Lips Touch is going to be one gorgeous book. Aside from that cover, which is creepy/sexy/fantastic, each one of the stories is preceded by pages of illustrations by Jim Di Bartolo, Laini’s husband, another superbly talented individual. At her blog, Laini has already cheered about how beautiful the book will be. I can’t wait to see the final printed version.

Lips Touch is coming in October 2009. You will have to buy it. Absolute proof that Twilight is so not the last word on forbidden love.

Lips Touch: Three Times is published by Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic. Note that material quoted is taken from the ARC and may differ from the bound book.

Here Lies Arthur

If you’ve read one Philip Reeve book, you’ve probably read all of Philip Reeve’s books, because he’s the sort of writer whose stories make you want to head out and read everything he’s ever done. So it should please his fans that his latest offering, Here Lies Arthur is a gutsy, wholly original revamp of the traditional Arthurian legend.

Readers will recognize Myrddin (Merlin), Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere), Bedwyr (Lancelot), Peredur (Perceval) and of course, Arthur, but there is a lot that’s different in this retelling. Myrddin the bard takes centre stage as the brains behind Arthur’s brawn and lust for power. In fact, Reeve presents Myrrdin as a myth-maker, as the storyteller who manipulates events to portray Arthur, who is fairly unimpressive in reality, as a remarkable leader. The narrator is Gwyna, an orphan slave-girl taken in by Mryddin to work as his assistant. At Myrrdin’s side, Gwyna ends up learning a great deal about politics, deception and gullibility.

This book will make you think. It will make you consider the power of one person to “spin” an event to suit whatever purpose or plan they might wish. In this way, Reeve has created a novel with an instant connection to the present. This old, old story feels suddenly modern and easy to relate to current figures and events, to the media and celebrity.

Those who hold the original Arthurian characters very close to their hearts might not want to read this version, because I think it will change forever how you think about the story. It will make you wonder and ask questions.  Here Lies Arthur is about blood and betrayal, loss and love and trickery. Very highly recommended.

Class of 2k9 Author Interview: Ellen Jensen Abbott

Class of 2k9 author Ellen Jensen Abbott is here for an interview today to discuss the inspiration behind her debut fantasy, Watersmeet, and to tell us about her journey towards publication. Welcome to Shelf Elf Ellen!

What inspires you? (People / Places / Art / Food / Ideas…)

There are lots of ways I could answer this question: myth and folklore inspire me, good fantasy novels that pull me into a different world inspire me, my characters inspire me. When I first began this story, it felt like the story chose me. I think it was Abisina, the main character, who spoke to me first—only she wasn’t Abisina then, and the quest she followed was quite different than it is now. She got a hold of me and I had to tell her story. But inspiration only got me so far. More days I had to make myself sit down and write. After the first fifteen minutes, or half an hour, or sometimes even longer—and truth be told, sometimes not at all—the process takes over. There is a joy in invention, in exploring your imagination and unearthing ideas and scenes and characters, watching them all emerge into three-dimensional people with motivations and psychologies and flaws, and into places with geography and history and religion. It actually is a bit like the endorphin high you get when running. It can be elusive, but when it’s working, oh my! And then these places and people stay with you, so when you are in the shower or driving to work or swimming your laps, you are still working out how the story will play out. That’s the inspiration that keeps me showing up at the computer.

Describe your path to publication.

I am not one of these people who always wanted to be a writer. So while I was always a good and devoted academic writer, it wasn’t until I was in my 30s that I actually thought I might have a story to tell. I started writing non-fiction. Like a lot of new mothers, I wrote about my children. But I don’t read non-fiction or parenting articles, so it didn’t take me long to start writing what I love: fantasy. Then I heard about the Rutgers University Council on Children’s Literature Conference, the One-on-One Plus Conference. At the conference, they pair up every new writer with an experienced writer, agent or editor. It’s networking like you can’t believe. I was accepted to this conference for three years and was paired up with Gail Carson Levine, Susan Campbell Bartoletti, and Clara Gillow Clark—three gifted, generous authors who were great teachers. I also met both the publisher of my book and my agent at Rutgers, though it took several years before all this came about. I submitted my first novel to Margery Cuyler at Marshall Cavendish and it was rejected—very kindly. (Only writers get this whole “I got a good rejection” thing.) That was actually the fourth book in the series that begins with Watersmeet. Margery spent a lot of time talking to me about how to proceed with my work, noticing that this book felt more like a sequel than a first book. I had already started the first book, so instead of shopping the original book around, I wrote the book that became Watersmeet and submitted it to Margery again. She was no longer an editor but the publisher, so she passed it to Robin Benjamin, senior editor, and they bought it!

What has surprised you most about becoming a published author? How does the fantasy compare to the reality?

I was really not prepared for how much marketing I have to do myself. I understood this, I thought, going in. I’d attended enough conferences to know that, no matter how big or little the house you are with, the author is the one who sells the book. But the reality of actually doing it has caught me off guard. As you know, I’m writing a sequel, but so much of my time is spent marketing, I am struggling to squeeze in the writing. I need those endorphins!

Watersmeet

If I was a debut author, I’d be edge-of-my-seat nervous to see the final cover design for my first novel. I’d be terrified that it would turn out to be nothing like what I’d hoped for, completely bland or at the very worst, horribly ugly. I’m guessing that Ellen Jensen Abbott breathed a big sigh of relief, or perhaps even let out a giant whoop of happiness when she first laid eyes on the cover of Watersmeet. Isn’t it wonderfully dark and a shade spooky and don’t you just feel like the girl is staring right at you? Love it. This book is practically going to leap into teen’s hands, I think. Ellen is a member of the fab group of debut authors, The Class of 2k9, and Watersmeet is heading into stores in April. Here’s a sneak peek at what is sure to be a hit read among Fantasy-loving teens.

Abisina is an outcast in her village because of her unusual hair, eyes and skin, and because she has never known her father. She is not the only outcast in Vranille. In fact, her community turns against anyone who is different, calling them freaks, treating those who are different with cruelty. Abisina is spared some of this because her mother is the village healer and the residents depend upon her skills everyday. All of this changes, however, when a strangely powerful leader comes to Vranille and the villagers turn into a crazed mob, hunting down the outcasts and forcing Abisina to flee for her life into the wild northern landscape. So begins her journey to find her father and Watersmeet, the legendary place known to Abisina only through her mother’s stories. She imagines it will be the home she has always dreamed of, but nothing has prepared her for the secrets she will find there.

Ellen Jensen Abbott’s story is a satisfying, well-crafted fantasy yarn. You’ll recognize many mythic creatures throughout the adventure: dwarves, fauns, centuars, hags, trolls and fairies. At its simplest, this is a quest tale, and so if you’re at all familiar with the fantasy genre, you will settle quickly into this story and world that Ellen Jensen Abbott creates. I felt straight away that there was something old-fashioned about the tone and the characters – and I’m talking old-fashioned in a good way. About a chapter in, I was thinking, “Oh good, this is exactly what I was hoping for.” Perhaps it’s the way that Ellen has so convincingly drawn for the reader the societies she has imagined. Vranille is a miserable place, and you know it from the start. Watersmeet is full of magic and wonder. There is always enough attention to setting and environment to allow you to be right there with Abisina as she moves from one new experience to the next. In addition, Ellen makes clear the social and cultural differences among the various creatures and communities, from their different rituals to their unique types of music and stories and legends. This differentiation helped to make the whole reading experience that much richer, and made Watersmeet feel all the more exotic and real.

It’s certainly a coming-of-age story, as Abisina faces challenges on the way to discovering her family and her future path. She’s a tough cookie, and although hers is a world full of magic and violence and strange creatures, I don’t think that will prevent readers from connecting to the way she struggles to discover who she is, and what she is meant to do. I can see Watersmeet working beautifully in the classroom, because it offers complex exploration of many discussion-worthy themes: unity and conflict, prejudice and power, evil and forgiveness and family. Just in case you can’t figure out exactly how to take it into the classroom, have no fear! Ellen Jensen Abbott provides some of the best looking Teachers’ Guides I’ve ever seen. Honest. If you don’t find her suggestions inspiring, you’re in the wrong job. You don’t have to do a thing (other than buy the books and hand them to your students). Can you tell Ellen is an English teacher? Lucky kids.

From what I can see, Ii’s looking like there might be a sequel, which will make many readers happy indeed. Grab Watersmeet in April 2009. It is published by Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books. Tune in soon for an interview with Ellen!

The Graveyard Book

What can a girl really say about a Newbery/Cybils award-winning book that hasn’t already been said by other mega-fans? Pretty much the whole children’s lit universe is in love with The Graveyard Book, and let me tell you, I get it. I wouldn’t have imagined it possible to love a Neil Gaiman book as much as Stardust or Coraline, but I think this one may even nudge past those two very beloved books. I mentioned last week that Neil was whispering the story in my ear late at night (thanks to the miracle of the audiobook. By the way, the audiobook is up for two Audies, according to the author over at his journal ). Well, I listened to the last little bit of the story a few nights ago, and the very first thing I did (after sighing and pressing my Ipod to my heart), was race out to the bookstore to grab a copy so that I could see the illustrations. Then I pressed the book to my heart and sighed for a while. Love it. A lot.

Even though it’s most unlikely that Mr. Gaiman would ever venture over here to my teensy corner of blog-land, I’d like to send out this thank you to him, just the same.

Thank you for finding a way to write a story full of creepiness and fantasy, and life and crypts, and epitaphs and goodbyes and ghosts (oh… and hounds of god. We like those too.).

5 Headstones out of 5.