Book Review: The Fifth Season, by N. K. Jemisin

Writing Quality: 5/5
Personal Enjoyment: 5/5
Wider Appeal: 5/5

The Fifth Season was the absolute perfect choice for my first read of 2016. It's the most innovative book I've read in a very long time, challenging the genre format and the idea of what fantasy traditionally is. The Fifth Season is not traditional genre formula fantasy.

N. K. Jemisin starts the book with the end of the world. This is already genre-shifting. Because in fantasy, the world doesn't end. That's the point. Someone is chosen to save the world, right? Here, she tells you right at the beginning: this story does not have a happy ending where a chosen one saves everyone from certain death, their loved ones survive, and they get the girl. The world ends. And the main character is a woman, and middle-aged, and a mother, and she has already lost her son.

The world ends, but the world has ended before. The land is rocked by frequent large and small quakes, and its population includes orogenes (aka roggas), people who can sense the vibrations and also control them, stilling or creating earthquakes. I can't tell you too much about the plot without giving it away, because Jemisin weaves tiny surprises throughout the book, slowly peeling away the story bit by bit to show you how characters are connected, and their histories and scars. There is not one big twist, but dozens of tiny ones, and the complexity of this story is absolutely beautiful.

The characters, Damaya, Syenite, and Essun, are all roggas of different ages and different stages in life. Damaya is a child, taken from her family to be trained. Syenite is a four-ring orogene who is beginning to realize that she is really just a slave. Essun is a free woman, hunting down her husband after he murdered their son.

I loved so much about this book. The ideas were amazing, and one part in particular was utterly awe-inspiring when I imagined what it looked like (which was easy, given Jemisin's excellent writing). The characters were believable, and it was easy to empathize with them. It was especially easy because Jemisin (again in a very uncommon choice) wrote all of Essun's chapters in second person. I also loved her casual attitude toward gender and sexuality. Gay, bi, straight, trans, poly...It's all here, and while it's commented on, Jemisin writes it in the same way you might write that a character has kinky hair, or they went for a run this morning. It just is, and it's nothing overly special. Why can't more books be like this?

I always end my reviews by telling you what types of readers would particularly enjoy a book, but this one is difficult, because I'm having a hard time pinning down a particular audience to the exclusion of others. This book is for readers who enjoy fantasy in which the magic system is actually an integral part of the story and not just a sideshow, readers who like strong female protagonists who are also realistically flawed (not just clumsy) and complicated, readers who like their books to be multi-racial and/or multi-gendered without making a thing of it, readers who like stories that are so well-constructed that by the end you can practically trace the lines of each moment back to something in the past that caused or influenced it...

If you're reading this review, The Fifth Season is probably for you.

Recommended ages 16+. New York: Orbit, 2015. Print. 498 pages. ISBN: 978-0316229296.

Book Review: Gryphons Aren't So Great, by James Sturm, Alexis Frederick-Frost, and Andrew Arnold

Writing/Art Quality: 4/5
Appeal/Enjoyment: 5/5

I love this series. Is it a series? Maybe not... But I love all the books that reside in the Adventures in Cartooning universe. Adventures in Cartooning is a great introduction to comic creation that makes it accessible to children. Even better are the books that follow, like Gryphons Aren't So Great, which are physical, published books using the skills taught in Adventures in Cartooning, and show by example how kids can take what they learned and make a real story out of it.

In this book, the knight and her horse Edward are playing when she spots a gryphon and hops on it to go for a ride, leaving Edward earth-bound and alone. The story is simple and sweet, and the art is equally simple and sweet, with doodle-like lines and bright colors. Like in the other books, the front and back endpapers of this book contain instructions for doodling some of the characters in the book, which is especially fun for kids who like to draw.

I would recommend this book to any small children who like drawing, telling stories, or reading about knights and fantastical creatures. :)

Recommended ages 5-10. New York: First Second, 2015. Print. 40 pages. ISBN: 978-1596436527.

Short Story Saturday: How Old Holly Came to Be, by Patrick Rothfuss

Writing Quality: 5/5
Enjoyment/Appeal: 5/5

"How Old Holly Came to Be" is Patrick Rothfuss's contribution to the anthology Unfettered, which I talked about in this post. The story is told in an almost chant-like rhythm that uses repetition to describe the change, growth, and rising consciousness of a holly tree. The lady who lives in the tower beside the tree cares for it, and in return it cares for her. There is war and magic and love and pain, but they are described in the slow, distant, matter-of-fact way in which I imagine a tree would see the world. The story spans decades. Centuries. But for the tree, time doesn't seem to mean much.

I've never read anything quite like this story before. The idea of conscious trees isn't new, but the question of how they gain self-awareness and what the world looks like from their point of view is new, and Pat's answer to that question is raw and beautiful.

This story left me with a sort of sweet, melancholy sadness. I loved it, and I read it a second time through immediately after reading it once. I'd like to read it again right now, even though I just put it down, like a favorite new song a teenager listens to over and over and over again, memorizing every word and note.

I would recommend this story to fantasy readers who like to delve into something a little different once in a while. In particular, if you're a fan of Pat's and you haven't read this yet, get on it! It's one of the shortest offerings in Unfettered, and it's incredibly good.

Recommended ages 16+. Seattle: Oak Press, 2013. Print. 574 pages. ISBN: 978-0984713639. 

Book Review: The Grace of Kings, by Ken Liu

Writing Quality: 5/5
Appeal/Enjoyment: 5/5

I picked up The Grace of Kings because I've heard so much amazing stuff about it. At first, though, I was a little hesitant about this book. The language brings to mind the stiff, impersonal style of a legend or a myth, with crystalline moments of poetry, like, “He was like a seed still tethered to the withered flower, just waiting for the dead air of the late summer evening to break, for the storm to begin.” These are characters who are almost gods themselves, and it's difficult to care about characters like that. As the story progressed, though, the themes started to emerge, and Ken Liu's ideas brought me back to the book every time I set it down.

The Grace of Kings is about war, empire, and revolution. It's also about the idea that war cannot be governed by the same moral code as life, because it cannot be won that way. In the same manner, life cannot be governed by the loose morals necessary for success in war, because peace cannot be maintained in such an environment. Ken Liu also writes about love, marriage, and fidelity, and his ideas are surprisingly feminist and progressive in nature. Maybe I'm only surprised because I don't know anything about Ken Liu other than the fact that he's Chinese American, he wrote this amazing book, and he translated The Three-Body Problem, which won the Hugo Award for best novel this year. Liu writes about equality in relationships, he writes a very liberal interpretation of marital fidelity, and he uses a misogynistic society to show how elevating women to positions of equality can improve an entire nation.

I'll be nominating this book for a Hugo next year. Frankly, I wish I could quote every single page of this book, but I'll stick with these:

“The heart is a complicated thing, and we're capable of many loves, though we're told that we must value one to the exclusion of others...You can be loyal to your husband at the same time that you take a lover for your own sake, though the poets tell us this is wrong. But why should we believe that the poets understand us better than we do ourselves?"

“I've always thought it nonsense to believe something true simply because it was written in a book long ago.” 

I'd recommend The Grace of Kings to readers who are interested in Imperial China (the inspiration for the setting of this book), fantasy where magic doesn't fix everything (or even take a major role), and readers who are in the mood for excellent writing and a slow, epic pace.

Recommended ages 16+. New York: Saga Press, 2015. Print. 640 pages. ISBN: 978-1481424271.

Short Story Saturday: That Seriously Obnoxious Time I Was Stuck at Witch Rimelda’s One Hundredth Birthday Party, by Tina Connolly

Writing Quality: 3/5
Appeal/Enjoyment: 4/5

Set in the world of Seriously Wicked: A Novel, this short story is seriously funny. Camellia is the non-witchy daughter of a wicked witch, and she's stuck at the one hundredth birthday party of another wicked witch. Everyone's wicked, down to the pool full of witchy children. After a party game in which all the witch children each have to defeat an animated inflatable octopus as it grows increasingly larger, the children are shunted off to the pool house, where they discover that their wicked parents are planning on sending their beloved librarian a seriously hexed loaf of banana bread.

You don't need to have read the book to enjoy That Seriously Obnoxious Time; it stands on its own very well. The story is told in first person, and Camellia's moody, rebellious teenage voice is absolutely believable. A simple, light story, this fluffy fiction entertains but also slips in some sneaky commentary about competitive parenting and petty revenge. I also don't mind that the action hinges on a librarian, although she never makes an appearance in the story.

Much like Seriously Wicked, I would recommend That Seriously Obnoxious Time to teens who feel like they don't belong, and who like fantasy that takes place in the modern world. Especially to readers who like stories that make them laugh. I'd also add that both (and especially the short story) can also be enjoyed by adults.

Recommended ages 11+. Tor Teen, 2015. Web. 26 Aug, 2015. www.tor.com.

Book Review: Underland Chronicles, by Suzanne Collins

I realize that this is not so much a book review as a series review. I read all five volumes of this series in three days. It's safe to say I enjoyed it immensely.

Gregor is an 11-year-old who falls into a New York kid's version of Wonderland. Instead of talking rabbits, caterpillars, and cards, he finds himself in a world populated by six-foot tall talking rats, bats big enough to ride on, and enormous cockroaches, as well as a race of humans with translucent white skin and violet eyes. The Underland is on the verge of war, and according to the Underlanders' prophecies, Gregor is the warrior who will save them all.

Each book follows a formula: Gregor and his sister Boots (and sometimes one or two other members of their family) go to the Underland, Gregor finds out about a prophesy concerning him, he goes on an adventure, the prophesy is unraveled, and Gregor and Boots go back home.

Within this format, the books explore what it means to belong somewhere, when (and if) war and violence are legitimate, and whether you can have any power over your own life when someone else is telling you what you have to do (even when the person telling you is doing so through a centuries-old prophesy). Collins does not hesitate to kill her characters when it's necessary, which makes the story more believable, and I think that death and grief are important things for children to read about. This series is full of darkness and pain, but also humor, love, and excitement. I also loved Luxa, the princess of the human Underlanders. She's young, but she's a strong-minded warrior, and I've always been a fan of strong female characters.

This series, with its prophesies and wonderful young characters, was a really fun read. Gregor's 2-year-old sister, Boots, comes with him on all of his adventures, and she brings an element of lightheartedness to the books, while grounding Gregor in reality. He can't get too lost in being a hero when he needs to change his baby sister's diaper.

I would highly recommend these books to readers who thought Wonderland wasn't gritty enough, and readers who like exciting adventure stories.

Rating: 4 stars

Book Review: The Magicians, by Lev Grossman

I loved this book. It's been on my to-read list for a very long time, but for some reason, I never managed to pick it up. Actually, I know the reason. The cover is uninspiring, and I have always been a girl who judges a book by its cover. If you're not supposed to do that, what's the cover for, anyway?! After having read the book, I'm rather unclear on exactly what the crooked, badly "pruned," yellow-leaved tree on the cover has to do with the story whatsoever. But I don't make those decisions, so...

As I said, I loved this book. The Magicians is divided into four parts. In the beginning of the first part, Quentin Coldwater, a brilliant high school senior obsessed with a series of fantasy books set in the magical world Fillory (a sort of Narnia-like place of clear-cut good and evil, talking animals, and ram gods, accessed at random through clocks, closets, etc., and in which children always seem to go on exciting quests), has one of his closest-held dreams come true. He is told that magic is real, and he's offered a position in the only American university that teaches it. The first part of the book is reminiscent of Harry Potter, if only because it is a bunch of young(ish) wizards learning how to do magic. But instead of seeming like a pale imitation of something else, Lev Grossman acknowledges the inevitable similarities and creates something entirely his own.

One deliberate reference to the similarities was when Quentin went to look for a member of his welters team (welters is a sort of magical man-sized chess game in which teams try to capture squares on a giant board using magic). Josh is talking to a dealer in magical items when Quentin finds him, half an hour after the game started. Josh looks at the dealer and asks, "Got anything for time travel? Time-turner or something?" When the dealer says he'll look into it, Josh says, "Awesome. Send me an owl." Later in that same scene, he says, "Gotta get my quiddich costume. I mean uniform. I mean welters."

But instead of being a book about becoming a wizard, The Magicians is a book about becoming a man. Quentin has everything. He's incredibly smart, he's probably headed to Princeton, his parents are still married and live well enough in Brooklyn...but he's unhappy. When he is told magic is real and offered the chance to learn it, his dreams come true. But he's still unhappy, feeling like his real life hasn't really started yet. At its core, The Magicians is an exploration into the follies of living for some more desirable future, rather than being happy with an already amazing present. Lev Grossman does this by writing about what it would be like for someone to get everything he ever wanted, only to realize that bringing his fantasies into the real world changes them, or changes his perception of them, and once he gets everything he wants, he has to find something new to desire, or feel directionless.

I think Lev Grossman's use of Harry Potter and Narnia references is incredibly smart, because those are the worlds that today's young people fantasize about. He hands those dreams to Quentin with no strings attached. And then he asks the question: Now what?

I would recommend this book to anyone who's ever fantasized about being spun into another, more beautiful, magical world.

Rating: 5 stars!

Short Story Saturday: The Chapel Perilous, by Kevin Hearne

This week, I was in the mood for an anthology with multiple authors, and Unfettered, edited by Shawn Speakman, was the perfect book to pull off the shelf. For those of you who have never heard of Unfettered, it's a volume that only exists because of the generosity and friendship of some of the most talented writers in Sci/Fi and Fantasy, who donated stories for the anthology to pay off the medical debt of Shawn Speakman after his second bout with cancer in 2011. There is no theme to this anthology. Instead, the authors were given the freedom to submit whatever short stories they wanted.

Kevin Hearne's story takes place in the same world as his Iron Druid Chronicles and features the druid Atticus as the main character (and Oberon as the usual show-stealing wolfhound). Atticus tells the true story of the quest for the Holy Grail (which he features in heavily...well, pretty much almost exclusively), and in its telling, reveals that the history of the Grail began long before Jesus' time.

I was fascinated by the new-to-me origin story of the Grail (or Celtic Graal). I read "The Chapel Perilous" with the expectation of being entertained, and Kevin Hearne did not disappoint. In spite of Atticus's obvious run-in with the Chapel Perilous (given the title), what could be very dark and macabre tale maintains its lighter mood. Kevin Hearne has a wry sense of humor, and Atticus's interactions with Oberon and with the horse he rides in the story were some of the best (and funniest) parts of the tale. I loved that it ties in with the other Iron Druid books as well, but that you don't need to read them to love this story.

I'd recommend this story to any reader who likes Kevin Hearne, but also to any readers who enjoy a new take on an old tale, or a lighthearted story with a little action, magic, and history mixed in.

Rating: 5 stars!