Goodreads:

Summary: Everyone in the Viking village of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III expects him to be a Hero–he is, after all, the son of the chief.  Hiccup, however, has lower expectations.  All he wants is to pass his initiation test, which requires him to catch and train a dragon, or else suffer exile.  Unfortunately, the dragon he catches proves to have a bit of an attitude.

Review: Fans of the film How to Train Your Dragon should expect a far different experience from the book.  Characters share the same names, but otherwise the two stories bear little resemblance to each other, as a quick look at the summary reveals.  In the book, Hiccup’s Viking village accepts dragons as pets they must capture and train; the drama results, not from Hiccup’s secret friendship with one of the beasts, but from his desperate attempts to train his dragon (named Toothless as a result of his less than fearsome appearance) before his village casts him out to die in the wilderness.  Toothless, it turns out, can communicate with Hiccup by speaking Dragonese–he simply chooses not to obey any of Hiccup’s orders.

The attitude exhibited by Toothless is but one attempt of many for the book to appeal to some sort of middle-grade humor.  The characters all have ridiculous names such as Dogbreath and Snotlout, they delight in calling each other names and pounding one another into the ground, and they perform feats such as stealing underwear.  Those who do not enjoy toilet humor may, in fact, find the tone of the book rather off-putting.  The whimsy and magic of the film are completely absent.

Another noticeable absence is that of any female characters.  Hiccup’s mother is technically present in about two scenes, but otherwise the author makes no mention of women.  This raises a rather obvious question: where are they?  Do rules prevent them from training dragons and serving as warriors?  Do they provide other useful services to the village?  Exploring gender roles within the context of this fictional society might have proven interesting, but I have no idea what to do with the seeming nonexistence of females within Hiccup’s world.

Admittedly, I liked that the absence of Astrid (the sole girl training to be a dragon warrior in the film) allowed Hiccup to focus on friendship rather than on romance.  Hiccup’s character arc bears similarities with that of Harry Potter, who starts out as a bit of a social outcast, but eventually earns the respect of those around him.  While Harry gains popularity from his rule-breaking escapades, however, Hiccup gains it from demonstrating the usefulness of traits those around him previously considered inferior.  Thus, intelligence, learning, patience, and thoughtfulness are held up as admirable qualities as opposed to brute force.

How to Train Your Dragon whiled away an afternoon for me, but I doubt I will continue with the series.  I do not share the sense of humor on which the book relies and I could not really connect with any of the characters.  Variously mean, rude, thoughtless, and proud of their cultivated ignorance, none of the characters has any real appeal.  Even Toothless, whom I assume is meant to be cute, has too much of an attitude for me to want to spend a lot of time with him.  If I want more dragons, I’ll go back to the film.

Published: 2003

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where bloggers share books they are eagerly anticipating.

The Twistrose Key

By Tome Almhjell

Release Date: October 17, 2013

Publisher: Dial Books

Summary: A mysterious package provides eleven-year-old Lin Rosenquist with the key to a world, Sylver, hidden behind her cellar door.  There animals who bonded with children in the other world dwell in an eternal winter.  Even as Lin is reunited with her own former pet, however, snow trolls threaten to destroy Sylver forever.

Why I Want to Read It: The book has obvious Narnian overtones–a magical world behind an ordinary door, an eternal winter, and anthropomorphic animals.  As long as Almhjell takes these elements to make an original story, I’m certain The Twistrose Key will prove to be a completely enchanting read.  Also, look at that cover.

THE INTERVIEW

What inspired you to start blogging?

It was actually my Dad’s idea. I would always try to tell him about the books I was reading and he kept saying, ‘write a review and email it to me’ because my vocal reviews to him were basically me fangirling or getting really angry. He then gave me the idea of a blog and I’ve been going ever since.

Who is your favorite author and why?

My favourite author… yikes, thats a hard one. It’s a three way tie between Tahereh Mafi, because her writing makes me so happy (her prose! *swoon*), John Green, because the metaphors and symbolism are as much apart of his books as the story and characters, and Sarah Addison Allen, because her stories are intoxicating.

If you could live in a fictional setting, which would you choose?

After thinking about all of the dystopian, and sci-fi worlds….. Yeah, I don’t want to live there. I think I’d like to live in the modern day London in Maureen Johnson’s The Name of the Star. How cool would it be to live at Wexford and work with Rory and Boo?

What characters do you wish you could be friends with?

That’s a huge list! My first few that come to mind are Alaska (Looking for Alaska, John Green), Kenji (Shatter Me, Tahereh Mafi), Susan (Narnia series, CS Lewis), and Anna (Anna and the French Kiss, Stephanie Perkins).

What is your favorite bookish memory?

I was about five years old and my Dad bought me the box set of The Chronicles of Narnia. We read them together and I was hooked. I used to demand my family call me Susan. She was my favourite!

Have you always enjoyed reading?

Always! I go through phases where I don’t read as much, but I’ve always loved it.

What is your favorite book-to-film adaptation?

The Harry Potter movies, of course. Along with the Perks movie. I get really critical of the Book-Movie thing, and It’s hard to accept them. But I did like the Stardust (Neil Gaiman) movie, and not the book, so that’s a switch up.

FAVORITES

• Board Game: Apples to Apples and Crimes against Humanity.
• Dessert: New York Style cherry cheesecake
• Movie Based on Book: Stardust (Neil Gaiman)
• Sport: Baseball
• Television Show: Doctor Who and Once Upon a Time

FIND INDIGO

Goodreads: Flight of the Phoenix
Series: Nathaniel Fludd: Beastologist #1
Source: Purchased

Summary: Nathaniel Fludd’s parents, adventurers and explorers, promised to take him travelling with them on his eighth birthday.  Now ten-years-old, Nate hears word from them for the first time in years—only to learn that they died at sea.  His last remaining relative, Aunt Phil, takes him in, but she follows the family vocation as a beastologist.  As soon as he arrives on her doorstep, she whisks him away to Arabia to witness the birth of a phoenix—and then disappears.  Alone and scared, Nate will have to prove to himself that he has what it takes to carry on the family business.

Review: Written for a slightly younger audience than LaFevers’ middle grade series featuring Theodosia Throckmorton, Flight of the Phoenix includes the same sense of adventure and hint of the magical, but in bite-sized form.  At a mere 134 pages, the story keeps the action coming; readers barely meet Nate before Aunt Phil whisks them away with him on a journey comprised of a series of mini episodes that create some excitement, but mostly serve to set up relationships and mysteries that will presumably become more relevant as the series progresses.  Although older readers might find themselves wishing for more substance, those in the target age range should find much to fire their imaginations.

The story neatly mixes the fantastic with the real, creating a world where mythical creatures exist—if one knows where to look.  LaFevers further makes the premise believable by grounding the plot in a sense of history.  She provides a brief backstory explaining the existence of beastology while attempting to insert a little bit of real history and culture through her choice of setting—1928 England and later Arabia.  Unfortunately, though the time period could have been fun to explore, LaFevers does very little with it; the only hint of why she chose it over any other period comes from a vague interest in the advancing technology.  Setting some of the story in Arabia likewise seems like a lost opportunity.  Aside from learning that the Bedouin are a nomadic people, readers receive essentially no cultural information; Nate and Aunt Phil might as well as have stayed in England, since nothing on their journey happens that might not have happened similarly there.

Flight of the Phoenix has difficulty standing on its own a story.  The almost episodic nature of the plot makes it seem as if things happen simply to advance the action or, in many cases, to set up action that will occur in later books.  Undoubtedly the length is meant to serve younger readers, who might not mind the almost abrupt style.  To me, however, this installment seems like the beginning of a book, not a book itself.  As the series progresses, the importance of the time period may become more apparent and the journey to Arabia will surely seem less random as Nate and Phil travel to other places in order to perform their work.  Getting a few of the books at once and reading them consecutively might help readers to connect more with the story.  Currently, however, I feel a bit as if I have received the beginning of a manuscript and then discovered the rest was missing.

Published: 2009

You Might Also Like

Goodreads: Survival in Auschwitz 
Source: Purchased

Summary: Primo Levi, an Italian chemist and Jew, chronicles his year in the Auschwitz concentration camp from February 1944 until January 1945.

Review: First published in Italian as If This Is a Man (Se questo è un uomo), the book focuses less on the horrors of the Holocaust that have, perhaps, become well-known to most schoolchildren and more on the psychological implications of those horrors.  The work distinguishes itself further from the multitude of works on the same subject, however, by not solely focusing on the mentality of those who worked the concentration camps, but also on the changing nature of those imprisoned there.  As time progresses in the book, Levi’s astute observations of those around him ask an increasingly urgent question: can those who have had everything stripped away from them still be considered men?

The question is provocative.  One might expect that a Jew writing about the Holocaust would wish to convey exactly the opposite observation—that these men, women, and children were undeniably human and that the crimes committed against them were thus undeniably outrageous.  The conflict evident in Levi’s thoughts about the matter, however, only serves to underscore the nature of the atrocities committed.  When a man himself begins to question whether he is still a man, then the attempt to dehumanize a group of people is truly complete.

Despite Levi’s inner turmoil, however, the better part of the human spirit continues to break through the darkness.  A particularly moving chapter recounts Levi’s attempts to recall the words of Ulysses to his sailors in Dante’s Divine Comedy—words that encourage them to seek for knowledge and to live as men rather than as beasts (Canto XXVI of the Inferno, if you feel inclined to look it up).  His struggle to recapture the lines has an intense significance he cannot define or understand, especially as he insists throughout the narrative that no amount of skill or intelligence can save anyone in the camps–only luck spares some.  His inability to articulate the meaning of the poetry suggests that it is not the intellect of men that defines that as such, but rather the limitations of that intellect.  The ineffable experience of poetry somehow connects to the senselessness of the camps; the meaning of both proves elusive and Levi can do nothing but struggle through as best he can.  He may feel that he has failed, but sometimes nothing seems so human as failure.

Survival in Auschwitz is a haunting book that raises deep questions through deceptively simple prose.  Self-reflective, it does not content itself with heaping blame on those who perpetuated the crimes at the concentration camps, but takes a long look at the mind of the author as he was during his time in Auschwitz.  What he sees clearly perplexes and sometimes troubles him; he knows he has not descended to the bestial nature of some of the others around him, but also knows that he is never far from falling.  Survival for Levi is not so much a fight to live as it is a fight to retain a sense of his own soul and his own dignity when everything around him suggests they no longer exist.

Published: 1947

Goodreads:

Summary: A blonde-haired foreigner arrives in the court of the Mughal emperor Akbhar claiming he carries a secret that will kill anyone who hears it—save Akbhar himself.  His tale spans decades and continents, following the life of the princess Qara Koz, whose decision to forge her own destiny caused her name to be erased from the annals of history.  The foreigner’s tale captivates not only Akbhar, but also the entire capital—but is it true?

Review: In The Enchantress of Florence, Rushdie mixes history, legend, and fantasy to create a story breathtaking in its scope and imagination.  Although the narrative seems to build slowly at first,  each word is like an exquisite jewel woven into an increasingly intricate tapestry; readers will find themselves drowning in the depths of a story so rich, so sensual, and so luscious that the plot could stand completely still and the beauty of the world Rushdie has woven would still ensnare them.  Though the story ostensibly revolves around the titular enchantress of Florence, Rushdie is the true enchanter here.

Perhaps best classified as magical realism, the book seamlessly blends the fantastic and the factual, playing with the readers’ suspension of disbelief.  Because some of the most outrageous claims are actually rooted in history, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate fact from fiction; the readers experience the confusion of the characters as they desperately try to untangle the threads of the foreigner’s tale to discover the truth of his journey.  As his words begin to take on a reality of their own, however, the question arises: if lies can create so much beauty, is it still worth searching for the truth?

The Enchantress of Florence is a rare treasure among books, one that will make readers want to slow down to savor it, rather than rush through to discover how it ends.  It casts a spell with its unique sense of the absurd, as well as its acceptance of that absurdity as a condition of life.  Like the foreigner’s audience, readers may find themselves unwilling to break the enchantment.

Published: 2008

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine where bloggers share books they are eagerly anticipating.

Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things

By Cynthia Voigt

Release Date: September 10, 2013

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Summary: The mysterious disappearance of Max Starling’s parents leaves the twelve-year-old struggling to maintain a low profile while also supporting himself as an actor.  The first in a trilogy.

Why I Want to Read It: A story set in the theatres of twentieth-century London promises to provide a lot of excitement.  Add a dash of mystery as well as such tantalizing key words such as “lost heirloom” and “lost love” and I’m in!  The cover is absolutely gorgeous, too.

THE INTERVIEW

What makes your blog unique?

My blog has a very odd mix of genres. My two most popular are literary fiction and political non-fiction, which have nothing to do with each other. I love literary fiction for fun, but I have a background in Political Science, so I really enjoy reading political books. I’m different in that I don’t push a political agenda with my reviews – I just like to spread the word of a good book that might teach someone something!

What have you just finished reading? What are you currently reading?

I just finished The Secret of the Nightingale Palace by Dana Sachs, which I loved. I rarely give 5-star reviews, but this one made the cut. I’m currently reading The Forgotten Presidents: Their Untold Constitutional Legacy by Michael J. Gerhardt, an ARC that I requested from NetGalley.

What advice do you have for new bloggers?

Don’t expect it to be a moneymaker! I had these grand ideas of signing up as an affiliate and that the cash would start rolling in, but I was wrong. Blogging is something you have to do because you want to and you love it. It’s rare for someone to make a living from it.

What are your hobbies outside of reading and blogging?

There’s life outside of reading and blogging?! I work full-time and am starting graduate school in the Fall, so reading and blogging may be the only hobbies I will have time for, but I enjoy spending time with my husband and our two dogs. We live in the Denver area, so we love getting in the car and driving randomly into the mountains to see what we find.

If you were the heroine of a novel, what genre book would it be?

Political non-fiction. I’m going to grad school for Public Policy and would love to enact a policy with large-scale implications. I should point out that this book would also be written by Hillary Clinton.

What book would you most like to be the cover model for?

Eeek! I don’t know that I’d want to be on the cover of any book! Although, referring back to the question before this, I suppose I’d be okay with being on the cover of my own book, if I did indeed star as the heroine of a non-fiction bestseller.

What is one thing on your bookish bucket list?

This is a funny question because another blogger and I searched the web wide and far for a bookish bucket list that wasn’t just for books and found nothing, so we started our own. Some of the things I have on there are to have a wall of bookshelves with a ladder, have books with my stamp in 10+ countries, and attend the BEA. Here’s the link: http://thebookwheelblog.com/50bookishthings/

FAVORITES

• Board Game: Hungry, Hungry Hippos
• Dessert: Tiramisu
• Movie Based on Book: Anne of Green Gables (the Megan Follows one)
• Sport: SEC Football (Go Gators!)
• Television Show: Law & Order (original or SVU – not CI)

FIND ALLISON

Summary: King George’s troops scour the countryside of Derbyshire for traitors after the failed rebellion led by Bonny Prince Charlie.  Falsely accused of siding with the pretender, Philip, the young Earl of Stratton, hides on the moors until his sister Lady Patience can deliver to London letters that prove his innocence.  The man who accused Philip, however, remains hot on his trail.  Only one man can help the Earl and his sister outwit their adversary, but dare they place Philip’s life in the hands of the notorious highwayman Beau Brocade?

Review: Beau Brocade should please fans of Orczy’s better-known work The Scarlet Pimpernel as it contains many of the same elements—a beautiful young aristocrat with her brother in danger, a dashing hero with a double identity, and a ruthless villain who will stop at nothing to catch his prey.  Although the plot is unlikely to catch any readers by surprise, it proceeds apace—the majority of its interest lying in the budding romance as well as the various tricks played upon the villains by the audacious Beau Brocade.  As is usual with Orczy’s books, the characters carry the story;  hating the villains is almost as fun as cheering on the protagonists.

Beau Brocade has immediate reader appeal as he functions as a slightly more questionable version of the Scarlet Pimpernel–a man who lives outside the law, but who steals from the rich only to give to the poor (and always while wearing the latest fashion).  Thus, although Orczy takes care to draw attention to his chivalry, his boyish laughter, his zest for life, and his ability to win the loyalty and love of all the poorer folk in Derbyshire, an air of mystery surrounds him; if this man is so noble, what crime in his past forces him to hide upon the moors like a common thief?  That nagging doubt plays into his relationship with Lady Patience, who finds herself attracted to his honorable qualities but fearing to lose her heart to a man who could betray her for personal gain.

If Beau Brocade is the Scarlet Pimpernal (or perhaps a better parallel can be drawn to Blakeney’s ancestor Diogenes, hero of The Laughing Cavalier), Patience obviously corresponds to the Pimpernel’s love interest, Marguerite.  Fortunately, however, she lacks that lady’s talent for falling captive to her enemies every so often so they can more easily blackmail the hero.  I admit I had high hopes for Patience.  Her brother thinks highly of her intelligence and good sense, and early on in the story she takes the initiative to discover his whereabouts and formulate a suitable plan for his recovery.  She, too, quickly discerns the identity of their hidden enemy and takes various precautions to attempt to elude his clutches.  By the end of the story, however, she finds herself unable to resist the relentless plots of her adversary and meekly places herself in the hands of the hero.  Admitting one’s weaknesses and deferring to another’s strengths indeed counts as good sense.  Even so, I wish Lady Patience had had a few more opportunities to exhibit the intelligence she clearly possesses.  She has the ability to take stock of a situation much more quickly than anyone else in the story and tries to use this to her advantage.  For some reason, however, things never work out in her favor, which leads to the sense that Beau Brocade is forever rescuing her–even though I think they would work remarkably well together as a team.

I thought the villain of the story was particularly notable, especially in light of comparisons with the Scarlet Pimpernel’s main adversary, Chauvelin.  I suspect Chauvelin can gain the sympathy of readers much more easily, especially considering the implication in various adaptations (such as the musical) that he and Marguerite were once a couple.  Chauvelin’s defining trait, after all, is merely his obsession with capturing the Scarlet Pimpernel–an understandable one considering his precarious position in the new hierarchy of the French Revolution.  As book after book progresses and Chauvelin always loses, he increasingly becomes more pitiable than threatening.  The villain of Beau Brocade, however–well, there’s a villain for you.

This villain lacks all honor, all chivalry, all trace of any finer trait.  Perversely, however, he acts always with the intention of winning the hand of the Lady Patience in marriage.  His love turned to obsession paints the picture of a truly warped mind–one so far gone that he would hurt the one he claims to love simply to possess her.  He may not be threatening physically, but he is truly terrifying psychologically.  One can almost see him tottering on the brink of madness.  Even more terrifying, he retains the ability to enlist others in his cause–solely because of his place in society.

Though I am a fan of Orczy’s Pimpernel books, Beau Brocade still surprised me with the depth of its characterization (often hidden behind seeming stereotypes), the gripping nature of its plot, and the general feel-good quality of the story overall.  If you like dashing heroes, scheming villains, and a good romance, Beau Brocade is the perfect way to spend an afternoon.

Published: 1907

What inspired you to start blogging?

From the start, I knew I wanted to propagate a message of love and good cheer. What better way to do this than by being an opinionated smart ass? In all seriousness, it was a combination of too much time and reading too much. I know, how can one possibly read TOO much? Well, I was reading more than a book a day, and my library was just starting to run out of interesting reads. Desperate for a way to slow myself down, I turned to blogging.

Who is your favorite author and why?

Man, that’s hard. I sort of want to wear all their skins really. If I had to choose one though, it’d be Ellen Hopkins. No other author is able to draw an emotional response out of me so reliably. There is no suitable comparison to the experience that is one of her books. They transcend the boundaries of standard literature, creating something breathtaking. In addition to the quality of the stories, there’s the importance of them. Every book by Ellen Hopkins takes an honest look at the hard parts of the world, the tough issues. Having ideas presented this way is immensely important, and can serve as some of the best lessons.

If you could live in a fictional setting, which would you choose?

Republic City from The Legend of Korra. The mix of fantasy, steampunk, and the prohibition era is just remarkable. Plus, I’d love to be a bender. For those of you who haven’t watched The Last Airbender or The Legend of Korra, a bender is an individual who is able to control one of four elements, water, fire, earth, or air.

What characters do you wish you could be friends with?

Ben Wolf from Deadline by Chris Crutcher has a definite place in my heart. Looking at it, I don’t even know if we’d connect in any way at all, but the story pulled at my heart strings so much, I feel that I should be friends with him. It’s like I owe it to him. Then there’s a character I hope everyone feels this way about: Ron Weasley. Does this need explanation? Anyone who’s read Harry Potter wants to be friends with him! And anyone who hasn’t read Harry Potter, isn’t worth mentioning.

What is your favorite bookish memory?

Can’t believe I’m going to admit this, but when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out, I may have dressed up as Harry Potter and been at the bookstore for the midnight release. That is purely hypothetical of course. Remember that, hypothetical. If we were to talk about things that actually happened, because that Harry Potter thing obviously never did, it would be the moment I realized I had an addiction. Last Fall, or Autumn if you prefer, I want on a vacation with my family to the Florida Keys. I brought something like thirteen books with me. Our vacation was only eleven or so days long, I read every single book I brought with me.

Have you always enjoyed reading?

Ever since first grade I have loved reading, and audiobooks even before that. I can’t think of a single period of my life where I fell out of favor with reading. It has been a constant companion.

What is your favorite book-to-film adaptation?

Since I am absolutely unique and special, I know my choice will blindside all of you. The Harry Potter movies were absolutely great, staying faithful for the most part, and maintained the feeling when they had to change the plot. How they could have done I better job, I don’t know. Creating ten hour epics isn’t realistic, so we have to settle down, and embrace the condensed versions of the stories.

FAVORITES

• Board Game: Risk
• Dessert: Fried ice cream
• Movie Based on Book: Shawshank Redemption
• Sport: Competitive sofa sitting is always a great one.
• Television Show: In Western television, it’d have to be Breaking Bad. Counting television from elsewhere in the world, I’d have to pick the holy grail of human artistic creation, Death Note.

FIND CAIN

• Blog: No BS Books
• Twitter: @nobsbooks