It's a pretty great example of a "signs and mystical Arthurian legendary artifacts" kind of series, boldly mixing ancient and wildThe finale has come!
It's a pretty great example of a "signs and mystical Arthurian legendary artifacts" kind of series, boldly mixing ancient and wild magic in with everyday English characters within a small territory for huge stakes.
That being said, I always preferred reading about Will's adventures and I warmed up to Brom pretty quickly, while the normal children were kinda so-so to me.
While I do APPRECIATE the idea of having so much Arthurian and older English imagery studded through these books, (and the last one in particular), my older self found it slightly ham-fisted and even slightly nonsensical by the end. It always boils down to arbitrary decisions by vastly powerful beings who then choose to give a choice over to the least consequential mortals.
Chosen-one stuff in different clothing, even arbitrarily chosen chosen-one stuff by the very end. And yes, I can see the point that this makes it rise above the expected outcomes, gives it subtlety and a chance for readers to read it all again for more signs and portents, but to me, it reminds me of countless heavy-handed christian fiction. Post-Narnia as this is, perhaps I'm a bit -- sensitive.
THAT being said, I still liked this book and the whole series. Good YA, great atmosphere, and if you're into it, vast numbers of symbolism to consider. ...more
Not only does it continue on in strong form from the first arc, it widens all horizons.
This series can only be I'm frankly blown away by this series.
Not only does it continue on in strong form from the first arc, it widens all horizons.
This series can only be described as a single endless novel. When the journey and character is this strong, a format like this is absolutely WONDERFUL if the writing is great and the dear reader is fully invested.
Fortunately, I am. Indeed, I LOVE a well-made Groundhog Day story and make no bones about the loop being about a month long. It turns this young character's magical learning sessions into something quite instructive. Being the academic sort, myself, I love the idea of becoming an archmage at 15 a wonderful prospect.
The big tragedy that keeps on re-happening is just a nice spur for everything else. As it is here, Zorian's scope is now well beyond the city where everything else had happened. He's developed a few new specialties, but it's his generalism that truly fascinates me.
So much so, I'm giving up on sleep and feel absolutely no desire to do anything else while reading this stuff. Yes, that is high praise....more
Maybe I'm getting into the worldbuilding more, or I am getting into the characters more, but the fourth book is really picking up for me and I'm lovinMaybe I'm getting into the worldbuilding more, or I am getting into the characters more, but the fourth book is really picking up for me and I'm loving it.
Perhaps a re-read of them all might be in order, now that I know the shape of things to come. :)
Either way, dark corners of English countryside, bastions of darkness, fought by the last incarnations of the light? As seen through foxes, ugly landowners, and dogs...
Yes, I think this small scope as a backdrop of the large is working quite well....more
Still a good YA fantasy from the early seventies, this time bringing the characters from the first two books together on an adventure to find the GraiStill a good YA fantasy from the early seventies, this time bringing the characters from the first two books together on an adventure to find the Grail. There's a good solid T. H. White thread here, as well as a Tethys, and a lonely Greenwitch.
It's worth it just for the mythology, but I have to say, it is likely a good, ageless book for the youngin's. ;)...more
I honestly enjoyed this 1973 YA fantasy. I was also rather surprised that we didn't get to follow the kids from the first book, instead falling into WI honestly enjoyed this 1973 YA fantasy. I was also rather surprised that we didn't get to follow the kids from the first book, instead falling into Will's headspace as he discovers he's one of the Old Ones.
Lots of magic and dark atmosphere here, but let's not forget just how much English folklore is jammed within these pages. Forces of light and darkness is just a single part of it.
I came into this assuming it was a fantasy classic, and so far, I haven't been disappointed.
Here's a bright surprise of an older YA SF book. This 1968 novel reads perfectly as if it were of the modern type. Bright and clear in all ways, it giHere's a bright surprise of an older YA SF book. This 1968 novel reads perfectly as if it were of the modern type. Bright and clear in all ways, it gives us an exploration of life aboard a huge generational spaceship and its interactions with colony worlds.
Most importantly, it's fantastic for the very reason of its title. It's about growing up, learning more and more about your own society and how it clashes with others, of where you or they can be wrong, and where you could or should fit within it.
That's an exceedingly simple description, of course, but I'll point out that this well-written novel is quite down-to-earth in every way possible. It's fascinatingly straightforward and really digs into prejudices and misconceptions. The best part is that its pretty damn universal.
I could had this book to just about anyone, regardless of preferred genre, and I can pretty much promise that it will not offend and it will likely stay with you a long time afterward.
One thing I will point out: it gives me an impression of being a much better YA than most I have read. The best parts are the questions....more
So, right to the nitty gritty. I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did. The title needed a bit of explaining, too, but I was pretty on boSo, right to the nitty gritty. I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did. The title needed a bit of explaining, too, but I was pretty on board with a YA dark fantasy with necromancy. My only real concern was whether it'd go down the torrid romance path, but I'm happy to say that the majority of the book took the other path.
I admit it took me a bit to get into, all told, but I was fairly enjoying the life and many, many days of living, learning, and survival with the help of her helper ghosts, undead minions, and spies. My only concern by this point was trying to figure out where the plot might lead us. All-in-all, it just felt like a never-ending stream of slice-of-necromantic life. It was somewhat wholesome, not at all scary or gross, and was just this side of amusing.
And that might have been for the best, if it had been a bit tighter. The fact is, there was a lot of this mild stuff going on... and on... and on... and I had a problem with keeping my interest level high. I had to put down the book fairly often.
And then there was the time skip. A few interesting things happened after, but by then I honestly didn't care all that much.
Did I hate the novel? No. Not at all. I can absolutely see how others might adore it. It has so much of living in its deathly pages and I'm sure a certain kind of person out there would latch onto all this and call it the greatest thing ever. But for me, I would have preferred it go through a hardcore editor, maybe splitting the book into two, but with an emphasis on story-shape. It just kinda felt like it grew and kept growing and overrun the whole garden....more
Honestly, I do think this is a rather expected end to Seanan's Improbable Road YA fantasy -- the one that that is referenced to heavily in Middlegame,Honestly, I do think this is a rather expected end to Seanan's Improbable Road YA fantasy -- the one that that is referenced to heavily in Middlegame, etc.
The adventure ends satisfactorily, with all the proper reveals and sage wisdom, referring to the journey much more than the end.
So, while I was somewhat charmed by it, I have to admit that I wasn't blown away. It was decent. It gives me something to look forward to with the proper Alchemy references in the main series.
I don't know exactly why I feel a little let down, but I do, and I can't quite put my finger on why....more
The best part of this five page comic is getting a bit of the nostalgia for Mister from the earlier books. The cat always had a prominent place, and nThe best part of this five page comic is getting a bit of the nostalgia for Mister from the earlier books. The cat always had a prominent place, and now, after so many things having happened, he kinda got lost in the mix.
Not so, now. It's nice to see him ... even if he is very much a cat. #teammouse...more
Coming back to Wayward Children is always a treat. Deep and fantastical stories that always circle back around to profound coming of age tales. The moComing back to Wayward Children is always a treat. Deep and fantastical stories that always circle back around to profound coming of age tales. The moral lessons are almost always very closely tied to the magical lands.
In this particular novella, we get to revisit some classically horrible lands, or rather, classically horrible people in those lands, and reinforce the fact that we, as children, are not the things that are done to us.
This is important at all times, of course. But the magic makes it a bit more pointy. ...more
A bit of a departure from the first two books in the Harper YA, this one changes PoV entirely. Fortunately, I like the clever, spy-like feel. It's allA bit of a departure from the first two books in the Harper YA, this one changes PoV entirely. Fortunately, I like the clever, spy-like feel. It's all still about dragons and drakes, of course, but we get to see a lot more of the land and have an interesting adventure, so it's all good.
Simple, enjoyable YA with all that we love of the series: music and dragons....more
I think I liked this one better than the first Percy Jackson. It's more straightforward, all adventure, and evCan you say, "Best hits of the Odyssey?"
I think I liked this one better than the first Percy Jackson. It's more straightforward, all adventure, and even more mythology. It was just plain fun. Sure, a bit of Golden Fleece and a huge portion of Odysseus (without the man, himself,) and always... Family Drama. You know how those Greek Gods are like.
This, more than the first, convinces me to keep going....more
I'm reading this one with my girl. She was obviously captured by the cover and she loves foxes, so it was a rather no-brainer.
As for the read? Me, perI'm reading this one with my girl. She was obviously captured by the cover and she loves foxes, so it was a rather no-brainer.
As for the read? Me, personally, I just had the feeling like I was watching a long episode of Lassie with a few minor changes: Lassie was actually a domesticated fox and Timmy found a philosophical woman mentor... while the rest of the world was going to war.
Peace and War, right? Well, it was cute enough. I probably wouldn't have read it without sufficient impetus from the outside, but I don't regret it. It was cute....more
The good/great: I loved having the Mexican folklore and having it set out in New Mexico, soon to be hoppinSo. I had a lot of thoughts about this one.
The good/great: I loved having the Mexican folklore and having it set out in New Mexico, soon to be hopping aboard one of the three spacecraft made to whisk the remaining humanity off the planet before a grand disaster. The personal focus of storytelling over what everyone else is doing is great, too. I was totally on board. Even when she wakes up after the deep sleep only to learn that she's the only one who remembers Earth, I'm vibing with it.
So what happened? Maybe being MG happened. Too much 100% black and white. Collective is utterly evil. This, despite the hope in the very beginning, the laughter I had when the ship with the politicos blew up, I didn't quite believe that we could have gone so borg-ish and one-note. And our MC? Well, once she threw a monkey wrench into the huge-bad, I'm struck by a sense of utter desolation.
Where is the storyteller happy ending? Stories need to be told, they need to affect a lot of people. In this dystopia, she's the last and she barely gets through to anyone. Indeed, by the end, I'm hit with the realization that her happy ending is just survival, almost alone. Isolation.
You know, like so many writers are, today. It's bleak. And that's the happy ending.
Mind you, the book does what it sets out to do and I love the various aspects I mentioned, but it's really hard to walk away from that message with anything like hope. "Hope? Why are you looking for hope in a Dystopia?" Yeah, yeah, I know. But even F-451 railed against the dying of the light in a way that was a bit more on point....more
I honestly didn't know what to expect, only knowing that this was theoretically an old-time classic.
After reading, I feel like I ha1965. Fantasy YA.
I honestly didn't know what to expect, only knowing that this was theoretically an old-time classic.
After reading, I feel like I had just had a light grail-type adventure keeping much closer to home than Narnia and not nearly so enormous. Indeed, these mystery-fiction type kids were pretty cozy.
Light, fun adventure. The adults are either super nice or lightly creepy -- until they're worse. :)
I mean, I read it out of curiosity back when I was kid even if it was for girls but the REAL reason I reNo two ways about it, this book is a classic.
I mean, I read it out of curiosity back when I was kid even if it was for girls but the REAL reason I read it was because a whole bunch of Karens under the auspices of the local Parent-Teacher organization loved to ban books and there was nothing that encouraged me to read more than banned books.
It was either reading this or Stephen King. I may have read more SK than Blume. But I did remember this fondly.
So fondly, in fact, that I gave a copy to my 10-year-old daughter and she devoured it in almost a single sitting, expressing a lot of delight.
This is still Wayward Children, and more specifically, it's Jack. Jack the apprentice to the mad scientist, Jack the pristine, the scientific, the undThis is still Wayward Children, and more specifically, it's Jack. Jack the apprentice to the mad scientist, Jack the pristine, the scientific, the undead.
It's also a short story that is all about infatuation, and for all that, it excels at what it does. :)
Cute. Young love. And very, very Translyvania. :)
Merged review:
This is still Wayward Children, and more specifically, it's Jack. Jack the apprentice to the mad scientist, Jack the pristine, the scientific, the undead.
It's also a short story that is all about infatuation, and for all that, it excels at what it does. :)
Cute. Young love. And very, very Translyvania. :)...more
I miss SF like this. It used to be a big thing in the heyday of SF, where the idea and the exploration and extrapolation of an idea is much more imporI miss SF like this. It used to be a big thing in the heyday of SF, where the idea and the exploration and extrapolation of an idea is much more important than, say, the fiction in which it is couched, but this kind of thing isn't all that common anymore.
In this case, we have Lockstep. 30 years in hibernation, 1 year awake. This allows all kinds of mining, transit time, robotic world-building, whole civilizations to take a foothold while still locked in normal space-time. It makes people live slowly. Very slowly. It provides a very even playground.
Want to travel to another world? Go to sleep, wake up there. Want to go back? No problem, the people you knew are still roughly the same age as you were when you left. It's a template for a functional interstellar empire.
That's pretty cool. It uses a lot of basic assumptions, of course, but it's a great thought-experiment.
As for the story, itself, we've got a powerful family that have taken over the stewardship, the very concept of Lockstep stemming from them, and the long lost brother -- after 14 thousand years -- has been recovered.
Cue adventure, trying to understand this civilization, intrigue, and huge power plays.
The actual story is of average amusement. I really enjoyed kicking around the options to have different times for Locksteps and political upheaval more than the adventure bits, but that's okay. In my opinion, it's more a novel of ideas than characters.
It's a breath of fresh air when comparing it to the modern deluge of lesser SF ideas couched in neverending characters. A better book would have both, of course, but alas.
Not too bad, all told. I'm going to enjoy trying out this author's other works. ...more
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