To all publishers, authors, editors-- I review primarily young adult, fantasy, romance and manga.
My review policy To Be Reviewed list here E-mail: Lexie.Cenni@gmail.com
Synopsis: In a time of kings, queens, and conspiracy, it's impossible to know whom one can trust. . . .
In a kingdom far away and long ago, it was prophesied at her birth that the queen would die before her sixteenth birthday. So Shadow, an orphan girl the same age as the young queen, was given the duty to watch her every move. And as prophesies do tend to come true, the queen is poisoned days before her birthday. When the castle is thrown into chaos, Shadow escapes with a young knight, whom she believes was betrothed to the queen.
Unsure of why she is following Sir Kenway, but determined to escape as far as possible from the castle, her long-time prison, Shadow sets off on an adventure with the handsome knight who has been charged with protecting her. As mystery builds, and romantic tension does, too, Shadow begins to wonder what her role in the kingdom truly is. Soon, she learns, it is up to her to save her land.
Review: Shadow takes me back to the fantasies and young adult novels I read as a teenager and younger. I would very much classify this with tales like Ella Enchanted or Goose Girl because it delivered very much the same sort of story. Regardless of anything else Shadow was a strong and complex character. No matter what she says she is not a carelessly cruel person or cold-hearted. She had to learn to be like that, to survive the torment of being the Queen's whipping girl, but in her heart of hearts she isn't really.
Sir Kenway, who comes off as an insufferable jerk for the better half of the story, slowly grew on me. I'm still unsure of why his attitude changed, or his true feelings towards the Queen in the beginning, but I liked him better for it in the second half. His sense of duty towards his family also gives him credit, though I don't think his father or stepmother deserved it (only his half-sisters).
The twist, which most will see coming, about Shadow's history has unexpected consequences. I found what the consequences of the twist to be intriguing, and especially enlightening given some of the characters' actions. I really would have liked to read more about the Queen and why she went from being so loving towards Shadow to so hateful. Some of it I think was pure jealousy, because Shadow was a quick learner and was favored by her Uncle, but I think some of it may of had to do with the visions the Queen sometimes got. Those are also not quite explained, but if they are anything like the Witch Maren's then it would explain an awful lot about why her emotions shifted towards Shadow so abruptly.
In the end I enjoyed this story, this new fairy tale. Part fantasy, part adventure and part learning to understand who you are I enthusiastically recommend this book.
It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!
You never know when I might play a wild card on you!
***Special thanks to Audra Jennings, Senior Media Specialist, of The B&B Media Group for sending me a review copy.***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Focusing on ancient women’s history, critically acclaimed author Ginger Garrett creates novels and nonfiction resources that explore the lives of historical women. In addition to her writing, Garrett is a frequent radio and television guest. A native Texan, she now resides in Georgia with her husband and three children.
List Price: $14.99
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: David C. Cook; New edition (March 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1434768015
ISBN-13: 978-1434768018
AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:
Prologue
Fourth Day of the Month of Av
Year 3414 after Creation
If you have opened this, you are the chosen one.
For this book has been sealed in the tomb of the ancients of Persia, never to be opened, I pray, until G-d1 has put His finger on a new woman of destiny, a woman who will rise up and change her nation. But we will not talk of your circumstances, and the many reasons this book may have fallen into your hands. There are no mistakes with prayer. You have indeed been called. If this sounds too strange, if you must look around your room and question whether G-d’s finger has perhaps slipped, if you are not a woman with the means to change a nation, then join me on a journey. You must return with me now to a place without hope, a nation that had lost sight of G-d, a girl with nothing to offer, and no one to give it to.
I must introduce myself first as I truly am: an exiled Jew, and an orphan. My given name was Hadassah, but the oppression of exile has stripped that too from me: I am now called Esther,2 so that I may blend in with my captors. My people, the Hebrew nation, had been sent out of our homeland after a bitter defeat in battle. We were allowed to settle in the kingdom of Persia, but we were not allowed to truly prosper there. We blended in, our lives preserved, but our heritage and customs were forced underground. Our hearts, once set only on returning to Jerusalem, were set out to wither in the heat
of the Arabian sun. My cousin Mordecai rescued me when I was orphaned and we lived in the capital city of Susa, under the reign of King Xerxes.3 Mordecai had a small flock of sheep that I helped tend, and we sold their fleece in the market. If times were good, we would sell a lamb for someone’s celebration. It was always for others to celebrate. We merely survived. But Mordecai was kind and good, and I was not forced into dishonor like the other orphans I had once known. This is how my story begins, and I give you these details not for sympathy, but so you will know that I am a girl well acquainted with bitter reality. I am not given to the freedom in flights of fantasy. But how can I explain to you the setting of my story? It is most certainly far removed from your experience. For I suspect that in the future, women will know freedom. And freedom is not an easy thing to forget, even if only to entertain an orphan’s story.
But you must forget now. I was born into a world, and into this story, where even the bravest women were faceless specters. Once married, they could venture out of their homes only with veils and escorts. No one yet had freed our souls. Passion and pleasure, like freedom, were the domain of men, and even young girls knew the wishes of their hearts would always be subject to a man’s desire for wealth. A man named Pericles summed up my time so well in his famed oration: “The greatest glory of a woman is to be least talked about by men, whether they are praising you or criticizing you.” Our role was clear: We were to be objects of passion, to receive a man’s attention mutely, and to respond only with children for the estate. Even the most powerful woman of our time, the beautiful Queen Vashti, was powerless. That was my future as a girl and I dared not lift my eyes above its horizon. That is how I enter this story. But give me your hand and let us walk back now, past the crumbling walls of history, to this world forgotten but a time yet remembered. Let me tell you the story of a girl unspared, plunged into heartache and chaos, who would save a nation. My name is Esther, and I will be queen.
1 Out of respect for God, Jews write the name of God without the vowels, believing that the name of God is too holy to be written out completely by a human. God is referred to as either “G-d” or “YHVH.”
2 The name Esther is related to the Persian name of Ishtar, a pagan goddess of the stars.
3 Esther refers to the king by his Persian name. In the Hebrew texts of antiquity, he is also referred to as Ahasuerus.
1
Eleventh Day of Shevat
Third Year of the Reign of Xerxes
Year 3394 after Creation
Was it today that I became fully awake, or have I only now begun to dream? Today Cyrus saw me in the marketplace haggling gently with my favorite shopkeeper, Shethana, over the price of a fleece. Shethana makes the loveliest rugs—I think they are even more lovely than the ones imported from the East—and her husband is known for his skill in crafting metals of all kinds. When I turned fifteen last year, he fashioned for me a necklace with several links in the center, painted various shades of blue. He says it is an art practiced in Egypt, this inlaying of colors into metal shapes. I feel so exotic with it on and wear it almost daily. I know it is as close to adventure as Mordecai will ever allow.
But as Shethana and I haggled over the fleece, both of us smiling because she knew I would as soon give it to her, Cyrus walked by eating a flatbread he had purchased from another vendor. He grimaced when he took a bite—I think he might have gotten a very strong taste of shallot—and I laughed. He laughed back, wiping his eyes with his jacket and fanning his mouth, and then, oh then, his gaze held my eyes for a moment. Everything in my body seemed to come alive suddenly and I felt afraid, for my legs couldn’t stand as straight and steady and I couldn’t get my mouth to work. Shethana noticed right away and didn’t conceal her grin as she glanced between Cyrus and me. I should have doubled the price of her fleece right then!
Cyrus turned to walk away, and I tried to focus again on my transaction. I could not meet Shethana’s eyes now—I didn’t want to be questioned about men and marriage, for everyone knows I have no dowry. To dream of winning Cyrus would be as foolish as to run my own heart straight through. I cannot dream, for it will surely crush me. And yet I can’t stop this warm flood that sweeps over me when he is near.
I haven’t told you the best part—when Shethana bought her fleece and left, I allowed myself to close my eyes for a moment in the heat of the day, and when I opened them again, there was a little stack of flatbread in my booth. I looked in every direction but could see no one. Taking a bite, I had to spit it out and started laughing. Cyrus was right—the vendor used many bitter shallots. The flatbread was a disaster.
She does not fire a pistol, and she never gambles at a gentlemen's club.
Lady Calpurnia Hartwell has always followed the rules, rules that have left her unmarried—and more than a little unsatisfied. And so she's vowed to break the rules and live the life of pleasure she's been missing. But to dance every dance, to steal a midnight kiss—to do those things, Callie will need a willing partner. Someone who knows everything about rule-breaking. Someone like Gabriel St. John, the Marquess of Ralston—charming and devastatingly handsome, his wicked reputation matched only by his sinful smile.
If she's not careful, she'll break the most important rule of all—the one that says that pleasure-seekers should never fall hopelessly, desperately in love . . .
Synopsis:
On one side of the border lies the modern world: the internet, homecoming dances, cell phones. On the other side dwell the ancient monsters who spark humanity's deepest fears: dragons.
Seventeen-year-old Kay Wyatt knows she's breaking the law by rock climbing near the border, but she'd rather have an adventure than follow the rules. When the dragon Artegal unexpectedly saves her life, the rules are abruptly shattered, and a secret friendship grows between them.
But suspicion and terror are the legacy of human and dragon interactions, and the fragile truce that has maintained peace between the species is unraveling. As tensions mount and battles begin, Kay and Artegal are caught in the middle. Can their friendship change the course of a war?
Review: When I first heard about Voices of Dragons, I had no idea it was a young adult urban fantasy. Actually I had no idea what it was about at all, but Dragons are a surefire way to get my attention at least. As I heard more about it, I was a little skeptical over the premise. It truly did sound like a Romeo & Juliet set-up but with a Dragon and a girl. The book more then exceeded my expectations however.
There was something very real about the situation to me, or perhaps the reactions of the characters. Kay is described early on, through actions and her own self-evaluation, as being prone to doing reckless things for adventure. Throughout the book she does just that; climbing cliffs without lines (or a climbing buddy), choosing to continue to meet with Artegal and then enthusiastically agreeing that they should try flying. Truly the two of them were a matched set--neither seemed overly afraid of the consequences, could only see the adventure of it.
The relationships with her human friends and family were a little more strained. Aside from keeping the monumental secret that was Artegal, Kay was also neck deep in the terrifying ritual of High School dating. On the one hand her best friend Tam was deep certain that if Kay just let it happen it would be the best thing ever. After all it was for her, so why wouldn't it be for everyone else? On the other hand Kay's uncertain feelings for her other best friend Jon wavered back and forth, plaguing her with doubts and 'what ifs'. Her time with Artegal gave her a peace and serenity, despite the danger, that she desperately needed.
When the tensions began they happened fast and then kept going. I was worried about an unexpected death creating friction between Artegal and Kay, but there wasn't any. Kay was an amazingly mature girl, able to see beyond anger and fear, able to understand because of her friendship with Artegal. The last third of the book felt rushed however, as Vaughn tried to cram as much into the space as possible to wrap up the story on a satisfactory point. The military came off as being brash, aggressive and bloodthirsty honestly and I felt nothing but sympathy for the dragons' side of the conflict. I don't think enough information was provided to really support the military's aggressive stance.
The twist at the end, regarding an old wives' tale about virgins and dragons, was amusing to see played out. It was clever of them to think of it and their escape promised a continuing story I'd be most eager to read. And for the record it was downright refreshing to read a paranormal/urban fantasy novel (mainstream or young adult) that featured two characters building a true bond of friendship that was the strongest factor.
The very first Book Expo America I went to was in 2007. At the time I didn't really understand what the whole thing was about except that it was about books and I had a chance to meet authors I hadn't before met or thought I had a chance meeting.
So my day went along and I was the first in line for the signing of Shannon Hale's new book Book of a Thousand Days and the paperback release of The Princess Academy. Except the author signing ahead of her was running over time so the BEA volunteer told me to just form a line somewhere. And I waited. People joined me in line and I waited longer. Eventually it was about a half hour into Shannon's signing and she came over to us with another lady and started signing for us while we waited in line. Then, because I'm a total fangirl, I asked her to take a picture with me and looking around she saw this awesome display of vegetable and fruit animals and we took a picture beside it.
Don't get me wrong, I had read Shannon's works before--I had read Goose Girl several times and had finished The Princess Academy less than a week before. I was so excited over Book of a Thousand Days. The thing is that she impressed me with the fact that even though she could have waited or refused to sign until the table was cleared or whatever, she saw that a bunch of us had been waiting for well over a hour and half (two hours in my case ::whistles:: ) and took the time to talk to us as she signed.
Her books have a simple wonder to them, like the fairy tales they are loosely based around, where the people fight for the small things or fight for the big things, but are good people. People you want in a Kingdom if you're a ruler. Her heroines, or heroes even, are feisty and generous hearts that speak out and teach by example. Not to say all her characters are good, the bad ones are really bad and despicable (often with blood-soaked hands), but that's to be expected after all.
I chose to start with a relatively recent author for two reasons: her Dreamcatcher trilogy caught and held me. Admittedly I came into the series late, and only after my sister told me to read it, but I loved it. Despite the paranormal elements there was a certain realness to the situation and the outcome that I appreciated.
Was it perfect? No, but I'm not reading books for a perfect reality. Reality isn't perfect right? Sometimes when an author puts so much minute detail into ever little thing I get bored. There's nothing for me to imagine or think about.
McMann also proved that you can have a dark situation, where either outcome is unthinkable and problematic, and make it workable. Certainly a HEA for the trilogy would have cost me less tears, but would it have worked? Is that realistic for the situation?
I related to Janie, though our situations were vastly different, and cared about what happened to her. You wouldn't believe how many times I was ready to deck Caleb for being a jerk (intentionally or otherwise). The style McMann wrote in was also intriguing and unique--a sort of scrapbook collection of moments both important and mundane in Janie's life that created who Janie was.
Heidi R. Kling, author of the forthcoming YA Sea is hosting an Author Appreciation Week and she's inviting bloggers to discuss (YA/MG) authors who they admire.
Here's her own words on the subject:
WHEN: March 15-19
WHAT: Write a blog post each day of next week about the authors you appreciate and why!
RULES: There are none. Be creative. If you want to pick five, pick five. Ten favorites? Go for it! Can't choose between your top twenty? Well, then you'll be doing a few a day. And they'll love you for it!
What is an "author": Ideally, someone that has sold a novel to an established publishing house. I suppose it could be your cat, if she's purred her way into a contract. For our purposes let's do authors of YA/MG.
I love this idea and so I'll be participating! Below you'll find the list of authors I'll be spotlighting and admiring all week long:
3-15 Monday: Lisa McMann
3-16 Tuesday: Shannon Hale
3-17 Wednesday: C.S. Lewis
3-18 Thursday: Cameron Dokey
3-19 Friday: Tamora Pierce
