Silver Phoenix

by Cindy Pon

Release Date:
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Harper Teen

Ratings
Action
Romance
Characters
Overall

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Ai Ling was secretly relieved to have her betrothal broken, even with the shame it brought on her family. But when her father disappears and a vile man tries to blackmail her into marriage, Ai Ling decides she must face the dangers of traveling unaccompanied and set off to find her father. Her only tool is the ability to reach into others’ souls and hear their thoughts, which also seems to be making her a target for a number of creatures no one thought existed any more.

She’s soon joined by Chen Yong, whose fate seems entwined with hers as he searches for answers to his past. Together, they will visit the land of the gods and take on the challenges that Ai Ling’s past incarnation was nice enough to volunteer her for.

Silver Phoenix is an exquisite Asian fairytale, something I’ve been hoping for for some time. Of course, my knowledge of ancient China is pretty limited, but it felt very authentic to me, and we can chalk up any problems to the fact that this is fantasy, and not exactly China. I especially loved how Pon stayed true to restrictions and prejudices toward girls, but worked around them in a way that didn’t make me go "But.. but… one girl is not going to change the gender prejudices of a whole nation!!!!!" It was great to see a fairytale style story that is very distinctly set in a non-western country, and one that doesn’t feel like it was just transplanted there without regard for all the little nuanced differences that come between western and eastern societies.

Another element I found well done was the topic of sex. The book opens on Ai Ling pretty much getting a sex ed lesson from her mother, about her duties as a wife, and throughout the book the topic of sex and purity is artfully and realistically woven into the story. Of course that makes me hesitate to say it’s appropriate for kids under 13, without knowing the kid, but I must commend the author on her good usage of the subject. I’m tired of books that use sex as purely a "look, kids, we’ve got smut!" or where girls are constantly threatened with rape ’cause they are girls in a male dominated society. The issues of sex, rape, and purity, though, were of great importance in earlier societies, so I also dislike it when authors glaze over them or pretend "oh, let’s have a medieval society, except everybody is openly promiscuous and the guy totally won’t care if he doesn’t know if he’s the father of the kid." Those kind of social changes take a lot more background history modification. But I’m digressing, and my grand debate about women’s roles in older societies can be left for a different day.

My least favorite thing about the book? The ending. Darn those open endings that need a sequel! It’s always been a pet peeve of mine when I get towards the end of the book and start realizing "wait a sec…. the author wants me to hang around for a sequel before she wraps things up, doesn’t she???" (Un?)fortunately, this was an excellent book and I will be eagerly awaiting the sequel to see how things turn out, especially with the unspoken promise of getting to see some other countries in this world. I’m not sure how to feel about the fact that the author told me on Goodreads that the book would have ended there even if there hadn’t been a sequel coming, but I probably would have felt a tad let down. I like my fiction to have what I consider happy endings. Life has enough ambiguity for me.

Ratings Reasons:
Action 5 - Nicely action packed, Pon did a good job at writing easy to follow and believe in action scenes.

Romance 3 - I wanted more. There are really only hints in this book, though it feels obvious who will eventually get together, but only time will tell.

Characters 5 - The characters lept off the page and felt fully fleshed out, leaving me wanting more and making me care about their outcomes.

Overall 5 - This is a great book for those who want something new to read and, like me, feel that a lot of authors have trouble moving past a very basic medieval society.

Extras:
This is Cindy Pon’s first book, but she’s a very active author who communicates a lot with her readers. Check out her blog and Goodreads page to communicate with her and hopefully she’ll be dropping some hints about the sequel!

Also, check out the cool trailer I previously posted.

The only other non western fairytale I remember enjoying this much was Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale, which is a western fairytale completely transplanted to a Mongolian styled country. Hale did an amazing job building the world and adding in the little details that make a fantasy world feel realistic.

Parents: 13+ Things do a get a little rough in this fight to the death, and the overall concept could be a great discussion topic. Not saying someone under thirteen wouldn’t enjoy the book, I just wouldn’t give it to them without knowing them and knowing they could handle all the emotions it might stir up.

Princess of the

Midnight Ball

By Jessica Day George

Release Date:
Avaliable Now
Bloomsbury

Ratings
Overall

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A tale of twelve princesses doomed to dance until dawn… Galen is a young soldier returning from war; Rose is one of twelve princesses condemned to dance each night for the King Under Stone. Together Galen and Rose will search for a way to break the curse that forces the princesses to dance at the midnight balls. All they need is one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all—true love—to conquer their foes in the dark halls below. But malevolent forces are working against them above ground as well, and as cruel as the King Under Stone has seemed, his wrath is mere irritation compared to the evil that awaits Galen and Rose in the brighter world above.
(Amazon product description)

Jessica Day George taking on the Twelve Dancing Princesses was one of my dream books. Now if Shannon Hale will do it, I can never read another retelling of it again. I sped through this book as quickly as possible, and enjoyed George’s new twists and turns on the classic tale. Still, I should tell you that I requested and read this book a few months ago, and while I enjoyed it, I was never quite impassioned enough to write a long drawn out review. So take that for what you will. Even now, I remember it fondly, but nothing sticks out dramatically in my mind about the book, except for a scene where the King Under Stone attacks the Princesses’ castle.

I definitely recommend this book for those of you who love fairy tale retellings and fans of George’s other books. You just might want to check it out or wait till it’s in paperback though, because I’m not sure it’s worth full price hard cover.

Overall 4 - I really enjoyed this book, but at the same time I couldn’t find a lot to talk about with it. A good solid book, Jessica has brought a new twist to a tale I’ve always been fascinated by. Highly recommended for all her fans and any fairy tale fan.

Parents - 10+ Nothing naughty that I remember, its a good tale for fairytale lovers.

The Falconer’s Knot

By Mary Hoffman

Release Date:
Avaliable Now
Bloomsbury

Ratings
Overall

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Sixteen-year-old Silvano da Montacuto has wealth, good looks, a new hawk—and an infatuation with a merchant’s wife. When a man is murdered in his town, Silvano’s bloody dagger is found, and he is accused of the crime. For his own protection, he is sent to a Franciscan House, where he poses as a novice, or a young monk. There, he lays eyes on Chiara, a lovely novice at the nearby Abbey of the Poor Claires. Both Chiara and Silvano are put to work mixing paint pigments for a nearby basilica. But murder seems to have followed Silvano, and soon several other dead bodies turn up. Who is committing the crimes? Will a young man accused of multiple murders be able to clear himself? And what about the girl he adores?
(description from Goodreads)

This book enticed me by the cover. I love the intricate illustrations along the edge and the use of gold to attract my eye. Unfortunately, the cover let me down and the book was not nearly so complex and enticing.

Hoffman paints a beautiful picture and stunning portrait of medieval Italy. For the history and setting, I would recommend the book. The plot however, fell short of what I was expecting. The book is sold as a murder mystery, yet I always felt the mystery took a backseat to the setting and the final ending did not feel very well set-up. Hoffman took great efforts to make sure that no one seemed an obvious villain, yet that simply made me not believe that the final killer could have really done it. The motive was also relatively weak.

Overall – 3 - This book isn’t a bad weekend read, especially if you like medieval Italy. But, don’t expect too much out of it.

Parents - 13+ A few “impure thoughts” and such, but nothing much.

I know when I finished reading The Hunger Games, a little bit of me hated the person who introduced me to the books because she didn’t warn me it would end with me wanting so much more! I know like me, most readers can’t wait until the September release date, and it’s both nice and frustrating to see the great early reviews.

Read the full Publisher’s Weekly article to see what people are saying!

Ultimately, $3,200 was raised for the Cat House and $1,500 for the Humane Society; then Dokken had to make her choice. The Journal Star noted that “although the plan was to adopt one cat, Eddy and Padric so charmed store owners that they took both to their new book-filled home nearly two weeks ago.”

“This town is amazing,” said bookseller Carolyn Nolte. “They just pooled together the change from their pockets and just donated. . . . I know Silas was well-loved around the world, and this was a good way to honor him and a great way to call attention to all the cats that are needing homes.”"

I grew up with the bookstore in this story, Silas and OK (who they don’t mention) where the highlights of book buying trips and I was really sad when I went back last October and Silas had recently passed away (OK died a few years ago).

Just thought this was a nice news item to post, and I know my Nebraska friends might be interested to find out whats going on with our favorite bookstore.

I can’t wait to meet the new kitties!

“Until recently, publishers believed books were relatively safe from piracy because it was so labor-intensive to scan each page to convert a book to a digital file. What’s more, reading books on the computer was relatively unappealing compared with a printed version.

Now, with publishers producing more digital editions, it is potentially easier for hackers to copy files. And the growing popularity of electronic reading devices like the Kindle from Amazon or the Reader from Sony make it easier to read in digital form. Many of the unauthorized editions are uploaded as PDFs, which can be easily e-mailed to a Kindle or the Sony device. ”

I personally think that the ease of pirating makes ebooks far more dangerous to traditional publishing than the idea that “paper books will go extinct.” Many of us like reading a paper book more than one on a screen, but if the one on the screen is “free” and the paper one is still costing us $10, its easy to see why some people would give in to temptation. Especially poor teens or those who live in other countries.

Still, paying for the book, whether its on paper or your computer screen is the only way authors see appreciation for their work and the only way they can hope to make a living and keep writing more books! Libraries are fine too, they purchase those copies (often at a higher price for a more durable book) and therefore they benifit the author as well.

I’ve seen the problems that piracy has been having on anime and manga for the last few years, and I really hope our American authors won’t have to deal with that as well.

I do find it interesting when authors put out their own “pirated” editions, like Cory Doctorow.
“Others view digital piracy as a way for new readers to discover writers. Cory Doctorow, a novelist whose young adult novel “Little Brother” spent seven weeks on the New York Times children’s chapter books best-seller list last year, offers free electronic versions of his books on the same day they are published in hardcover. He believes free versions, even unauthorized ones, entice new readers.

“I really feel like my problem isn’t piracy,” Mr. Doctorow said. “It’s obscurity.””

I read his book Little Brother because I found it for free. I plan to buy it as soon as its in paperback. But still, its the author’s choice, not the “fans”. I think ebook versions have plenty of pontential to be used as a marketing tool, and it does create buzz, but it should be under the author’s control. (Heck, its a great way for authors to create interest in their older out-of-print works as well.)

Good review of it here, on the School Library Journal.
“The story hasn’t gotten any better or worse than the original book. In fact NaRae Lee does a great job of getting the best bits of the story into the manga. For me the strength of this was the artwork. NaRae Lee really made Max and her flock come alive. From the horrible Erasers to the kids soaring through the air. (Though they do hide their wings remarkably well when they’re not in the air.) Fang does look a little bit too much like a girl to me. But I’ve always had that issue with manga.”

I was wondering how they’d deal with hiding the wings.