How to Succeed in Witchcraft by Aislinn Brophy (ARC Review)

Information

Goodreads: How to Succeed in Witchcraft
Series: None
Age Category: Young Adult
Source: Publisher Giveaway
Publication Date: September 27, 2022

Official Summary

An overachieving teen witch vies for a prestigious scholarship at her elite high school in this contemporary YA fantasy for fans of Never Have I Ever and Sabrina the Teen Witch!

Magically brilliant, academically perfect, chronically overcommitted…

Shay Johnson has all the makings of a successful witch. Now that she’s a junior at T.K. Anderson Magical Magnet School, she’s one step closerto winning the full-ride Brockton Scholarship–her ticket into the university of her dreams. Her main competition? Ana freaking Alvarez. The key to victory? Impressing Mr. B, drama teacher and head of the scholarship committee.

When Mr. B persuades Shay to star in this year’s aggressively inclusive, racially diverse musical—at their not-quite-diverse school–she agrees, wearily, even though she’ll have to put up with Ana playing the other lead. But with rehearsals underway, Shay realizes Ana is…not the despicable witch she’d thought. Perhaps she could even be a friend–or more. And Shay could use someone in her corner once she finds herself on the receiving end of Mr. B’s unpleasant and unwanted attention. When Shay learns she’s not the first witch to experience his inappropriate behavior, she must decide if she’ll come forward. But how can she speak out when the scholarship–and her future–are on the line?

An unforgettable debut, How to Succeed in Witchcraft conjures up searing social commentary, delightfully awkward high school theater, and magical proclamations of love.

Review

How to Succeed in Witchcraft is a creative and moving story that brings readers to a world that functions very similarly to ours–except it’s magic! Protagonist Shay Johnson faces the same pressures as many high schoolers, taking a full load of AP courses in subjects like Potions and Transfiguration and competing hard for a free-ride scholarship to a magical licensing college. Author Aislinn Brophy seamlessly blends her rich magical world building with these real world concerns, creating a story that is sure to stick in readers’ minds after the last page is turned.

I do admit that, although I very much liked this book, it was at times difficult to read. While Shay’s fixation on academic excellence and balancing too many activities she’s trying to stuff onto her resume can be relatable, and her blossoming relationship with academic rival Ana is just as charming as the actual magic in the book, I hesitate to call the overall book “delightful” as some other reviewers have. At its heart, this book is still about a high school teacher being a predator and grooming underage students so . . . it was actually stressful for me to read at times. I cringed and gagged and really didn’t want to watch this teacher being a creep. The book is very well done and shows how the teacher starts small and builds up, and how his behavior is excused by 99% of people by innocent, and how there are rumors about his hooking up with students but no one seems to care — all the things that, unfortunately, happen in these situations in our own world. It’s sensitive and moving and deeply realistic. But I hesitate to say it was “fun” to read!

So I can see why a lot of the other reviews I’ve seen have focused on the other aspects of the book. Aislinn’s relationship with her best friend, who is bright and talented but can’t seem to get accepted into a magical licensing college and (in Aislinn’s eyes) might have to “settle” for a lesser school. Her relationship with Ana, the other top contender for the coveted college scholarship, whom Aislinn has hated since freshman year. Her time practicing for the high school musical, since the creepy teacher convinced her to join theatre after implying it would boost her scholarship application. All these things are well done, too, and I do think they help keep the book light. Aislinn gets to have fun with her friends, and flirt, and learn all about the highs and lows of theatre. She has such a great high school experience in many ways, and anyone who was in their own high school drama department, or who spent far too many late nights studying for AP courses, or who worried about how to pay for college, will doubtless see a bit of their own lives in hers.

How to Succeed at Witchcraft is an amazing blend of fantasy and contemporary that speaks on important issues while also incorporating a bit of whimsy. Brophy is an author to watch.

Cinder & Glass by Melissa de la Cruz

Information

Goodreads: Cinder & Glass
Series: None
Age Category: Young Adult
Source: Giveaway from Penguin
Published: March 8, 2022

Official Summary

1682. The king sends out an invitation to all the maidens in France: their presence is requested at a number of balls and events that will be held in honor of the dashing Prince Louis, who must choose a bride.

Cendrillon de Louvois has more grace, beauty, and charm than anyone else in France. While she was once the darling child of the king’s favorite adviser, her father’s death has turned her into the servant of her stepmother and cruel stepsisters–and at her own chateau, too!

Cendrillon–now called Cinder–manages to evade her stepmother and attend the ball, where she catches the eye of the handsome Prince Louis and his younger brother Auguste.

Even though Cendrillon has an immediate aversion to Louis, and a connection with Auguste, the only way to escape her stepmother is to compete with the other women at court for the Prince’s hand.

Soon, as Cendrillon glows closer to Auguste and dislikes the prince more and more, she will have to decide if she can bear losing the boy she loves in order to leave a life she hates.

Melissa de la Cruz takes a lush, romantic hand to this retold fairy tale classic.

Review

Cinder & Glass strikes me as the type of book I would have enjoyed reading as an actual teen, a time both when the YA market wasn’t as saturated with wildly good, sweeping fantasy as it is now and when my own personal standards for being impressed weren’t so high, purely because I hadn’t read as many books as I have now that I’m older. That is, Cinder & Glass is a perfectly good, serviceable retelling of “Cinderella” that will be a fun, light read for someone who likes “Cinderella” retellings, but it just isn’t particularly memorable and doesn’t add any really original twists to the story.

This is a nice choice for readers wondering where all the “lower YA” has gone, in a market that seems dominated by really dark and mature YA books. If you want a light romance that mostly sticks to kissing and a book that has obstacles and set-backs for the protagonists but that doesn’t delve deep into cruelty, abuse, exploitation, dark magic, etc., then this is definitely a book to look into. It is, truly, simply a retelling of “Cinderella” set in 17th-century France, following the basic storyline one would expect. The main spin-off is that the second half of the book, instead of featuring simply a ball, involves a bit of a “contest” among various women the prince might pick for his wife (imagine something along the lines of The Selection).

I am on the fence about the pacing of the book, however, and whether things like the eligible maiden contest and the romances in general felt rushed. Part of me thinks they are; part of me appreciates a nice YA standalone that just gets the job done and wrapped out, rather than drawing everything out into a dramatic and lengthy trilogy. This is another reason the book reminds me of the YA published when I was a teen myself and why I think it works nicely as a lower YA recommendation.

So . . . this book is fine; my biggest problem is that I don’t have much to say about it beyond that. It fills a niche I think has been left empty in the current YA market for some time, so if you have a job where you recommend books to others, this is worth keeping in mind. If you are personally an avid reader of YA fantasy and retellings, this one is not likely to stand out to you.

Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor

Information

Goodreads: Hotel Magnifique
Series: None
Age Category: Young Adult
Source: Purchased
Published: April 5, 2022

Official Summary

All her life, Jani has dreamed of Elsewhere. Just barely scraping by with her job at a tannery, she’s resigned to a dreary life in the port town of Durc, caring for her younger sister Zosa. That is, until the Hotel Magnifique comes to town.

The hotel is legendary not only for its whimsical enchantments, but also for its ability to travel—appearing in a different destination every morning. While Jani and Zosa can’t afford the exorbitant costs of a guest’s stay, they can interview to join the staff, and are soon whisked away on the greatest adventure of their lives. But once inside, Jani quickly discovers their contracts are unbreakable and that beneath the marvelous glamour, the hotel is hiding dangerous secrets.

With the vexingly handsome doorman Bel as her only ally, Jani embarks on a mission to unravel the mystery of the magic at the heart of the hotel and free Zosa—and the other staff—from the cruelty of the ruthless maître d’hôtel. To succeed, she’ll have to risk everything she loves, but failure would mean a fate far worse than never returning home.

Review

Hotel Magnifique is a riveting fantasy that takes readers on a journey with protagonist Jani as she snares a coveted position working in the world’s most (okay, only) magical hotel — and slowly begins to realize things might not be as glamorous as they seem. The lush world building, dazzling magic, sense of mystery, and strong family ties makes this a story very worth reading.

A lot books get compared to both Caraval and The Night Circus; apparently setting a book in a contained magical space in world where little else is magical is enough to earn the comparison. Personally, I didn’t love Caraval because it was extremely hyped at the time of its release, and I felt I get a very standard YA instead of something exceptional. I think Hotel Magnifique blows Caraval out of the water; it is an immensely better book. As for The Night Circus? I don’t know what Hotel Magnifique is really supposed to have in common with it.

The strongest part of the story may be that, while magic is embedded everywhere and the author does a great job of building the atmosphere and telling readers about the wondrous things that can be seen in the hotel, the setting and wonder are never really the point. The book focuses on plot and characterization; the real draw is the mystery of what exactly is going on in the hotel and then the tension of whether Jani will be able to save herself and her sister before it’s too late. I couldn’t stop myself from turning to pages to see how everything would turn out.

The book’s one flaw is that, while the sisters’ relationship is integral to the story . . . Jani’s little sister is actually mostly absent from the text. Readers have to see most of their love through Jani’s reflections and memories. I feel like this is common in a lot of YA that supposedly focuses on siblings, for whatever reason, and I would love to see more stories where the siblings spend the majority of the story interacting with one another.

Overall, this was excellent, definitely one of my top reads so far this year. If you love YA fantasy, you don’t want to skip this one.

Note: I would like to note that both the summary and the story reference “Elsewhere” as if it’s an actual place, like Neverland or Narnia or something. In fact, “Elsewhere” just means . . . travelling. The protagonist and the hotel guests just want to go places beyond their home, places they could reasonably get to by using a boat or horse if they had the means. I’m not sure why “Elsewhere” is used so confusingly here.

Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain

Information

Goodreads: Dark and Shallow Lies
Series: None
Published: August 31, 2021

Official Summary

A teen girl disappears from her small town deep in the bayou, where magic festers beneath the surface of the swamp like water rot, in this chilling debut supernatural thriller for fans of Natasha Preston, Karen McManus, and Rory Power.

La Cachette, Louisiana, is the worst place to be if you have something to hide.

This tiny town, where seventeen-year-old Grey spends her summers, is the self-proclaimed Psychic Capital of the World–and the place where Elora Pellerin, Grey’s best friend, disappeared six months earlier.

Grey can’t believe that Elora vanished into thin air any more than she can believe that nobody in a town full of psychics knows what happened. But as she digs into the night that Elora went missing, she begins to realize that everybody in town is hiding something – her grandmother Honey; her childhood crush Hart; and even her late mother, whose secrets continue to call to Grey from beyond the grave.

When a mysterious stranger emerges from the bayou – a stormy-eyed boy with links to Elora and the town’s bloody history – Grey realizes that La Cachette’s past is far more present and dangerous than she’d ever understood. Suddenly, she doesn’t know who she can trust. In a town where secrets lurk just below the surface, and where a murderer is on the loose, nobody can be presumed innocent–and La Cachette’s dark and shallow lies may just rip the town apart.

Review

Dark and Shallow Lies is a riveting thriller that brings readers to the heart of bayou, where secrets abound even though half the residents of La Cachette are psychic. Ginny Myers Sain brings her setting and her story alive with a strong voice and a twisty plot that will have readers second guessing everything.

While I was initially uncertain about the psychic angle of the book and how it would tie in with the dark and gritty problems of a dead girl and her friend who deeply wants answers, everything ultimately comes together. The psychic powers seem real, but the holders aren’t omniscient, and protagonist Grey starts to wonder how often they’re a blessing and how often they’re a curse. There’s also tons of space for Grey to get in some real world investigation, talking to people want happened, exploring the area, etc. as she tries to figure how her best friend died.

The investigation itself is absorbing, as readers go along with Grey to find and sort through any available clues. It’s also refreshingly realistic. I felt as if the steps Grey takes to find her answers were ones a teenager could reasonably take. She isn’t some sort of teen Sherlock Holmes with a uniquely impressive mind, and she doesn’t do anything too wild that should probably get her killed herself or at least grounded for the next decade. She does what she can, relying on her tenacity and her deep love for her friend to guide her.

Full of heart, voice, and dark secrets, Dark and Shallow Lies engrossed me from the first page. And even though it’s a thriller, and I now know how it ends, I think it’s good enough to bear up to multiple reads.

Brave the Page: A Young Writer’s Guide to Telling Epic Stories by National Novel Writing Month

Information

Goodreads: Brave the Page
Series: None
Source: Library
Published: August 27, 2019

Official Summary

The official NaNoWriMo handbook that inspires young people to tackle audacious goals and complete their creative projects.

Includes pep talks from today’s biggest authors!
John Green, Marissa Meyer, Jennifer Niven, Daniel Jose Older, Danielle Paige, Celia C. Perez, and Scott Westerfeld with an introduction by Jason Reynolds!

Partly a how-to guide on the nitty-gritty of writing, partly a collection of inspiration to set (and meet) ambitious goals, Brave the Page is the go-to resource for middle-grade writers. Narrated in a fun, refreshingly kid-friendly voice, it champions NaNoWriMo’s central mission that everyone‘s stories deserve to be told. The volume includes chapters on character, plot, setting, and the like; motivating essays from popular authors; advice on how to commit to your goals; a detailed plan for writing a novel or story in a month; and more!

Review

Brave the Page is an excellent introduction for younger readers to NaNoWriMo and to the writing process in general.  And even though the prompts, examples, and voice are geared towards middle schoolers and teens, there’s enough advice that older aspiring writers might find it interesting, as well.

I don’t think there’s much I would personally use in this book, but that’s solely because 1) I’d say I’m familiar with a lot of the advice—making time for writing, limiting distractions, observing the world for inspiration, etc. and 2) I’m not the type of person to refer to a multi-day plan in a book.  I read through the four week novel writing plan at the end and thought it had good idea, perfect for NaNoWri, but I’d be really bad at following through actually referencing this each day during November.  So knowing yourself and your strengths/weaknesses as a writer is useful here.

I do think the book’s biggest strength is driving home the idea that writing is a process and it’s something you can commit to doing and learn to do well.  As someone who taught college composition classes, I know even adults often think that good writing some innate talent that some people possess and others don’t or that they think inspiration, motivation, and time management are just going to strike from the sky.  Brave the Page emphasizes time and again, in the voices of a wide variety of published authors, that the most fundamental thing you need to do in order to write something is to…sit down and write.  And then sit down and write again.  And again.  And again.  And then revise it all because the first draft is probably mediocre.   The authors admit sometimes it’s hard, and they don’t always even enjoy writing, and they frequently have to purposely brainstorm ideas or make outlines instead of being divinely inspired with interesting plots.  Novels don’t just magically flow out of them.  And this is a really valuable lesson for young (or any) writers to learn.

So if you need a little motivation or inspiration for getting your novel started or know a young writer who might like to learn more about the craft, check out Brave the Page.  If you’ve already read a lot of writing advice, there’s probably nothing new here, but you might still want to check out the various writing prompts and exercises to see if there’s anything useful to you there.

The Explorers: The Reckless Rescue by Adrienne Kress

Information

Goodreads: The Reckless Rescue
Series: The Explorers #2
Source: Library
Published: April 24, 2018

Official Summary

More mystery, more bravery, more danger, and one amazingly reckless rescue await in the second book in the Explorers series! The perfect read for fans of The Name of This Book Is a Secret and The Mysterious Benedict Society!

Reader! Your attention is greatly needed. We have left things unresolved! What began as your average story of a boy stumbling upon a pig in a teeny hat and a secret international explorers society has turned into an adventure of epic proportions.

* The bad news: The boy (Sebastian) has been kidnapped by a trio of troublesome thugs.
* The good news: His new friend Evie has promised to rescue him!
* The bad news: Sebastian has been taken halfway around the world.
* The good news: Evie has famous explorer and former Filipendulous Five member Catherine Lind at her side!
* The bad news: There’s still the whole matter of Evie’s grandfather (and the leader of the Filipendulous Five) somewhere out there in grave danger.
* The good news: Pursuing Sebastian will lead Evie and Catherine to another member of the Filipendulous Five, who might be able to help!

This missive is a call to action and an invitation to join in mystery, bravery, and danger. There will be new people to meet, new places to see, and some dancing along the way. And one amazingly reckless rescue.

Review

As I started The Reckless Rescue, I felt a little discouraged because I had absolutely no memory of what had happened in Book 1. I nearly DNF’ed in the first chapter, lamenting the lack of any exposition to situate me and certain I was doomed in general as a reader to just never have idea what was going on in any of the series I was reading ever again. However, I persevered, and I am immensely glad I did. The Reckless Rescue is one of those fabulous middle grade books that are exciting and funny and thoughtful and absolutely ridiculous but in the best possible way.

When I try to pitch this series to get others to read it, I’m always sure to mention the pig in the teeny hat because who wouldn’t want to read about that? Also, there are adorable illustrations of it. However, I think the winning factor of this book is that one of the characters accidentally joins a K-Pop band. You read that correctly. It’s so far-fetched that even the character wonders for a moment if it’s all real, but it is.  And it is perfect. I couldn’t put the book down.

There’s also another plot featuring sea life and volcanoes, both great things, especially for the intended audience of middle grade readers.  I love middle grade books that offer wild and imaginative adventures with zero apologies, and this is one of them.

The characters are also compelling, and I enjoyed getting to know more of them in this installment, their positives and their flaws.  It’s nice to be able to cheer for the protagonists and hope they succeed, and I certainly felt that here.

If you’re looking for a fun middle grade series with both creativity and heart, The Explorers series might be right for you.

The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White

Information

Goodreads: The Guinevere Deception
Series: Camelot Rising #1
Source: Library
Published: November 5, 2019

Official Summary

There was nothing in the world as magical and terrifying as a girl.

Princess Guinevere has come to Camelot to wed a stranger: the charismatic King Arthur. With magic clawing at the kingdom’s borders, the great wizard Merlin conjured a solution–send in Guinevere to be Arthur’s wife . . . and his protector from those who want to see the young king’s idyllic city fail. The catch? Guinevere’s real name–and her true identity–is a secret. She is a changeling, a girl who has given up everything to protect Camelot.

To keep Arthur safe, Guinevere must navigate a court in which the old–including Arthur’s own family–demand things continue as they have been, and the new–those drawn by the dream of Camelot–fight for a better way to live. And always, in the green hearts of forests and the black depths of lakes, magic lies in wait to reclaim the land. Arthur’s knights believe they are strong enough to face any threat, but Guinevere knows it will take more than swords to keep Camelot free.

Deadly jousts, duplicitous knights, and forbidden romances are nothing compared to the greatest threat of all: the girl with the long black hair, riding on horseback through the dark woods toward Arthur. Because when your whole existence is a lie, how can you trust even yourself?

Review

The Guinevere Deception is an imaginative retelling that weaves together pieces of Arthurian legend (itself often wildly but beautifully inconsistent) to create a story about a girl who needs to find herself while protecting her new home of Camelot.  While overall I think the story is strong and well-crafted and will be satisfying to a large number of readers, personally I was not always gripped and would have liked a bit more development of the plot.

Though there are a few aspects of the book I believe were intended to be plot twists, most of it was predictable—starting with the opening of the book where there is some “secret” the protagonist holds…which in this case is mentioned on the book jacket summary.  There is also a mysterious Guinevere herself must solve, and it’s also laughable how obvious it is she is following the wrong threads and clues.  I’m not generally one to read mainly for suspense or surprise, but it was a bit wearying to feel the character was wasting her time—and to feel I was, as well, as I had to plod through the requisite pages until she finally discovered how wrong she was and started doing something more useful.  Interestingly, the elements from Arthurian legend incorporated into the plot did not feel as blandly predictable, even though I was aware where certain scenes must be heading.

Guinevere as a character is interesting, however, and it was fun to read about her.  She is someone who is not necessarily drawn in detail in a lot of Arthurian source material, which can give writers some room to play.  White has a created a character who is both powerful and vulnerable, smart but often in the dark, important but clearly still very young.  Sometimes in YA, while the characters are doing great deeds, it’s hard to remember they’re teens; I generally remembered that Guinevere was, even as she was impressing me with her talents.

I also enjoyed the characterization of most of the other players in the novel and had fun picking out where White was inspired by her sources.  In addition to the obvious characters like Mordred and Merlin, White adds ones like Tristan and Isolde and Percival and Blancheflour, who might be less familiar to some readers.  Personally, I’ve always been interested in Gawain, so it would have been fun to see him get a larger role, as well, but that’s not actually a flaw of the book.

The main premise of the new vs. the old, magic vs. order, nature vs. peace, etc. is also interesting and nuanced, and I think there’s a lot of room for this to grow in the following books.  In some sense, The Guinevere Deception has the tiniest feel of The Lord of the Rings, as characters ponder whether it’s time for dangerous magic to leave and for a world ordered by men to take over.  There’s also general medieval influence here, of course, in the sense that magic and folklore beliefs coexisted with Christianity, sometimes openly and sometimes secretly, for quite a while in the Middle Ages.

The Guinevere Deception is a strong fantasy with strong female characters that will likely please many readers. I enjoyed it myself; I just wasn’t gripped enough to want to continue reading the series.

Blood Heir by Amélie Wen Zhao

Information

Goodreads: Blood Heir
Series: Blood Heir Trilogy #1
Source: Gift
Published: November 19, 2019

Official Summary

This hot debut is the first book in an epic new series about a princess hiding a dark secret and the con man she must trust to clear her name for her father’s murder.

In the Cyrilian Empire, Affinites are reviled. Their varied gifts to control the world around them are unnatural—dangerous. And Anastacya Mikhailov, the crown princess, has a terrifying secret. Her deadly Affinity to blood is her curse and the reason she has lived her life hidden behind palace walls.

When Ana’s father, the emperor, is murdered, her world is shattered. Framed as his killer, Ana must flee the palace to save her life. And to clear her name, she must find her father’s murderer on her own. But the Cyrilia beyond the palace walls is far different from the one she thought she knew. Corruption rules the land, and a greater conspiracy is at work—one that threatens the very balance of her world. And there is only one person corrupt enough to help Ana get to its core: Ramson Quicktongue.

A cunning crime lord of the Cyrilian underworld, Ramson has sinister plans—though he might have met his match in Ana. Because in this story, the princess might be the most dangerous player of all.

Review

“Dark” is an apt description for Blood Heir, a book where so many terrible things keep happening to the characters that it’s difficult to say the story is “fun” or “enjoyable” to read. However, an interesting plot and strong world building kept me turning the pages and have me excited to read the sequel when it’s released later this year.

I did struggle with the beginning because ostracization, torture, injustice, violence, and slavery are all recurring themes, and while these are obviously important topics, they can make the book feel heavy. Each time I picked it up, I wondered what awful thing was going to happen to which character next. However, as protagonist Ana and her unlikely crime lord partner begin to come into their own–their abilities and their beliefs–the story also starts to show more hope. They know things will be hard, and more things will go wrong, but they realize that they must try, that it is their choices that define them.

I do wish I could have rooted for both characters a bit more. While the author does strive to make both nuanced, I felt she missed the mark in representing what are supposed to be their fundamental characteristics. For instance, Ramson is supposed to be the best criminal in the entire country, a man who can accomplish what no else can with cunning and ruthlessness–yet he never does anything particularly impressive during the course of the book. He gets into and out of a few scrapes, but so often it seems that other people are getting the upper hand on him; I can believe he’s a skilled criminal, but I don’t believe he’s the best or unparalleled.

Ana is also a bit difficult. She struggles with having a blood Affinity, the ability to control others’ bodies with their own blood, either to toss them about or to hurt or kill them. (Possibly she could figure out how to heal with it, but she doesn’t know how.) Her brand of magic means many people think she’s a monster, while she hopes she is not. However, her struggle here is also not as nuanced as it could be. Other characters in the book repeatedly mention that Ana is good, inspirational, etc.–but all I could see is how many people she kills, viciously, violently, and occasionally with some satisfaction because they “deserve” it. She mentions repeatedly that it’s your choices that define you, but she kills dozens of people in horrendous ways over the course of the book, and I don’t think her regret or struggle to come to terms with whether it was unfortunate but “necessary” is delved into enough.

Yet I did like the book. It has a sweeping scope and takes a thoughtful look at a nation that has become corrupt and is perpetuating terrible human rights violations through legalized indentured servitude (or what we as readers would recognize as modern-day slavery). Arguably this, recognizing the slavery and then finding ways to end (revolution? politically? something else?) it is truly the premise of the book, more so than the plot line about Ana searching for the man who murdered her father, which is mentioned in the official summary. Ana grew up shut up in the palace (because of her own Affinity), but now that she is out in the world, she begins to see the signs and the effects of this slavery everywhere–in the people selling food her at a festival who have bad contracts and aren’t allowed to leave, in the back rooms of “reputable” places where work contracts are bought and sold, in the turned backs of the national guard who are supposed to protect the vulnerable but are willing to exploit them for the right amount of money. Injustice is everywhere, and she and her friends realize they cannot turn away.

Overall, this is a fascinating story that takes the basic story of Anastasia and turns it into something new. That something isn’t always pretty because the world and the characters are dark, but it’s compelling, and I think many readers will be gripped by the story if they give it a chance.

The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green

Information

Goodreads: The Smoke Thieves
Series: The Smoke Thieves #1
Source: Purchased
Published: May 1, 2018

Official Summary

A princess, a traitor, a hunter and a thief. Four teenagers with the fate of the world in their hands. Four nations destined for conflict.

In Brigant, Princess Catherine prepares for a loveless political marriage arranged by her brutal and ambitious father. In Calidor, downtrodden servant March seeks revenge on the prince who betrayed his people. In Pitoria, feckless Edyon steals cheap baubles for cheaper thrills as he drifts from town to town. And in the barren northern territories, thirteen-year-old Tash is running for her life as she plays bait for the gruff demon hunter Gravell.

As alliances shift and shatter, and old certainties are overturned, our four heroes find their past lives transformed and their futures inextricably linked by the unpredictable tides of magic and war. Who will rise and who will fall? And who will claim the ultimate prize?

Review

The Smoke Thieves by Sally Green is an interesting high fantasy that weaves together multiple POVs of characters from a variety of walks of life: a demon hunter, a princess, a royal body guard, a trader’s son, a servant. The book will likely appeal to anyone who generally likes these types of stories, as the world-building is interesting and the plot is fairly fast-paced, but I do think the characterization was lacking and that it was difficult to actually connect with the characters.

My complete apathy towards characters is always something I find difficult to explain. In The Smoke Thieves, it isn’t that there are “too many” characters or that Green doesn’t describe them and their personalities and their motivations in some detail. On paper, everything looks done right, yet I never actually cared about any of these people. Characters die left and right in the story, some minor and some important enough I should have felt some emotion after their demise and yet…I never did. And that makes the book feel flat.

The one thing I can explain is the complete lack of romantic chemistry between the princess and her body guard. While the soldier seems like a nice guy and exhibits a remarkable amount of loyalty and willingness to sacrifice for the woman he loves…I just never had any idea of why they liked each other or how their “relationship” came about. From the descriptions in the book, it seems as if the two of them barely talked, so the idea they would risk everything to have some sort of forbidden true love affair seemed absurd to me. The solider’s over-the-top loyalty actually made me think of it a bit like a devoted puppy rather than a serious, swoon-worthy love interest.

And yet…I did enjoy the book. Plot-wise, it was interesting. I might have liked a bit more complexity, but I thought the explanation of the political systems and the relationships of the various countries were thought-through and made for good political intrigue, and I liked reading about the daily activities of most of the characters. (I admit I hated every time I saw a chapter about Edyon or March; they simply bored me. This is a risk with any story with multiple POVs, however.) Overall, I just want to know how things are going to turn out.

The element of the demon smoke is also interesting and not quite like anything I’ve read before, and I think focusing more on demons would be fascinating in book two, if that’s a route the author can take. I am very open to reading the sequel, which is always the mark of a successful series opener for me, even if the book isn’t perfect.

Girl Gone Viral by Arvin Ahmadi (DNF Review)

Information

Goodreads: Girl Gone Viral
Series: None
Source: Library
Published: May 21, 2019

Official Summary

For seventeen-year-old Opal Hopper, code is magic. She builds entire worlds from scratch: Mars craters, shimmering lakes, any virtual experience her heart desires.

But she can’t code her dad back into her life. When he disappeared after her tenth birthday, leaving only a cryptic note, Opal tried desperately to find him. And when he never turned up, she enrolled at a boarding school for technical prodigies and tried to forget.

Until now. Because WAVE, the world’s biggest virtual reality platform, has announced a contest where the winner gets to meet its billionaire founder. The same billionaire who worked closely with Opal’s dad. The one she always believed might know where he went. The one who maybe even murdered him.

What begins as a small data hack to win the contest spirals out of control when Opal goes viral, digging her deeper into a hole of lies, hacks, and manipulation. How far will Opal go for the answers–or is it the attention–she’s wanted for years?

Review

I usually try to get a decent way into a book before writing a DNF review, so I freely here admit I only got a view chapters into Girl Gone Viral before giving it up, and there may be something secretly fabulous about the book that I am missing.  (Notably, I didn’t even get to the part of the book that seems to be the major plot–the protagonist looking for her missing father.)  However, I so rarely DNF books in the first place, especially YA books that barely take any time to read, that I thought it worth explaining why.

The primary reason I gave up is likely just a pet peeve of mine and won’t be a problem for many other readers: the book clearly thinks it’s incredibly clever…and it’s not.  I hate this.  The one thing I can truly think I despise about books is protagonists who think they’re smart, are acknowledged as smart by other characters and/or the narrative voice, but are glaringly, obviously not.  Now, it isn’t the case here that protagonist Opal Hopper is actually stupid, so she has that going for her, but the premise of the opening chapters is that it’s incredibly clever that Opal has figured out that people lie when they write comments online.  

If you haven’t gasped, shocked and appalled, completely taken aback by this wild and enlightening information, then you are not alone.  However, Opal (and friends) are completely convinced that if they do a video (well, more of a VR experience) where they reveal to people that they say they hate a certain celebrity but they really feel bad for her and it troubles, it will be earth-shattering.  They’re revealing that people lie online. (*gasp*)  They’re so convinced of this that they stake winning the contest mentioned in the book summary on making a video revealing this mind-blowing information.  Showing that people write trolling comments and say things they don’t mean when they’re online will totally make them go viral and win the competition because it’s just such amazingly, shocking information.  They’re geniuses for coming up with this unbelievable theory that definitely no one would have ever known or thought of before.

…I’m getting sarcastic enough that you’re probably already imagining me rolling my eyes, and that was my general experience reading the first chapters of this book.  I do admit that the trick of children’s books is that information that seems obvious to adults might actually be delightfully new and surprising to kids or teens, and maybe teens will, in fact, be taken aback by the wild information that people write things they don’t mean online, especially when it means going with what seems to be the general consensus.  (Why say you hate Ariana Grande on an online forum where her fans are going to mob you?  Just say she’s fine and move on, right?)

And maybe the book gets better from its here and goes on to have a fascinating plot and to actually say things about technology that haven’t been said before (though the general premise right now seems to be fear of privacy loss, which is relevant to many readers but not exactly a new theme for literature–See The Circle by Dave Eggers.)  However, the opening is so lackluster and so proud of its own cleverness when it’s not even clever, that I can’t keep reading.  Combine this with the fact I feel no connection to the characters, and the author seems to be fond of writing confusingly and withholding information to reveal it more “surprisingly” later on, and I’m just not interested in spending more time with this book.