Powerful Debut

Black Girl Unlimited by Echo Brown

New York : Henry Holt and Co., 2020.

294 p. ; 22 cm.

This is a super creative and really well written debut YA novel.  The subtitle of Black Girl Unlimited is The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard, and it's back cover states, it is "Part memoir, part magic" - and these are two good clues to the power of this novel. This is no Harry Potter wizardry, but instead a kind of rare natural/supernatural inheritance of access to the power and mystery of the "in between zone." 

The novel deals head on with hard issues of sexual assault, drug addiction, poverty and crime - but does it in a way that is not despairing, but also not falsely optimistic. The hero of this novel is the main character, Echo Brown (see, there's the part memoir) who is academically talented and motivated. She only gradually realizes that she is a wizard and that her power as one is limited but can grow.  One of the coolest aspects is that as a wizard she can occasionally stop time and use that stopped time to try and influence others for the better.

The novel is a great story of the power of determination, bravery, family ties, intellectual curiosity and bravery in the face of addiction, poverty, racism and violence. 

My only hesitations with the novel (which I was surprised to not see brought up in reviews) are the heavy use of vernacular from characters in her poor neighborhood (including her Mom and brothers). And then there is an unfortunate description of one of the most powerful elderly women wizards as being "a quarter Cherokee on her mother's side" according to everyone in Echo's neighborhood, and who is also said to have "learned all her magic stuff from her grandmother." 

That said, it's a powerful novel about obstacles and triumphs facing a young black girl as she comes of age and gets in touch with her inner strength and power.

     

Art Lives!

Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older 

New York, NY : Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., c2015.    

297 p. ; 20 cm. 

I had been wanting to read this book for quite a while. I was going to read it during Hispanic Heritage Month, but a students checked out the copies we had (which is great!). So when they came back in I checked it out to myself and read it.

Shadowshaper is the debut novel writers dream of - it was a "Top Ten" on ALA and YALSA lists, a "Best Book of the Year" at NPR and Publishers Weekly, and received stellar reviews, etc. The praise was not undeserved. It's a wonderfully creative novel - undergirded by concerns of ethnic heritage, sexism, gentrification, cultural appropriation - that manages to be a supernatural thriller, urban fantasy, and coming of age story all at once.

At the heart of the story is Sierra a Puerto Rican teen artist/muralist living in Brooklyn. As the story unfolds she learns that her powers are not just artistic, but connected to an age old spiritual power that allows her to bring spirits into her works of art - literally bringing them to life.  This of course would be a ho-hum story without an evil force that seeks to destroy shadowshapers like Sierra so as to gather all that power into himself.  It is a life-and-death danger and Sierra must confront it head on with the help of a another shadowshaping artist - Robbie - and her friends and brother.  The battle between the forces of Sierra and her allies and their nemesis provides the action of the novel.

For some this action will be what draws and holds them in the story.  For me this was the weakest part of the novel. The climactic battle scenes feel like they owe too much action movie staging. I found the most moving parts of the novel were the beginnings of Sierra's understanding of her powers and the descriptions of the art works coming to life, and her meeting with her grandmother's spirit.  But that's me, and I recognize that the gruesome creatures and the bone-crunching fights will be what keeps many readers going right to the satisfying end.

Shadow and Bone Shines

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

New York : Square Fish, 2013.

358 p. : map ; 22 cm. 

If you've seen any of my other posts, you'll know I'm not a huge fan of fantasy/high fantasy novels.  It's not that I dislike them; it's just that they don't completely thrill me.  That being said, I really did enjoy reading this first novel of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, the opening book of the larger Grishaverse series of books by Leigh Bardugo. 

The writing is strong in Shadow and Bone; Bardugo is really good at creating atmospheric settings and has a good ear for dialog. She's able to create her imagined world with subtlety and suggestion.  Also the plotting and action builds and accelerates as the novel goes on, so that by the end I found myself racing along to see what would happen and did not want to put the book down.

The novel has been extremely popular (becoming a Netflix series in March of 2021) - receiving favorable reviews, and becoming a NYT's bestseller.

This is a fantasy novel I'd be glad to recommend and we have many more of her novels in the collection so that a fan of Bardugo would have a lot more to read.

A Wonder of Wonderland

A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney

New York : Imprint, 2018.     

370 p. ; 22 cm.

I wish I liked contemporary fantasy/action better because I think then I would have really loved this novel.  It has some of that familiar territory of dual worlds with only certain people (or characters) having the ability to travel between them.  Alice, the main character of A Blade So Black, is one of these people.  She can visit Wonderland where nightmares come from, and there she can battle them and help keep the human world safe.  

Alice is also a young Black woman, a high-schooler who's father has recently died and whose mother worries dreadfully about her well-being in this real world (Atlanta, GA to be specific) that is so dangerous for young Black women. 

Turns out Alice is also a very talented warrior against nightmares and so is part of an elite group of humans known as Dreamwalkers who do battle against the dangers of Wonderland that threaten to overtake the regular world the rest of us live in.

Oh, and the other fun catch to this novel is that it cleverly echoes the Alice in Wonderland story. As you can see there is A LOT going for this book.  Some reviews have noted some hiccups in the pacing (I would agree) and a bit of vagueness in the "world-building" of Wonderland (also agree), but the reviews also note the great character building and dynamic fight scenes that McKinney has created.  Yes, I would agree.  To students who like Neil Gaiman or Cassandra Clare or who just want something exciting and otherworldly I would definitely recommend this book. The fact that the hero is an African American teen young woman who has to deal with parent-rules, school, crushes, and teen life is an added benefit.

Finally, the book does wrap-up (SORT OF) at the end, but then closes with an epilogue teaser that means there will be more novels taking up the adventures of Alice the Dreamwalker.

Ahead of the Curve

The Famished Road by Ben Okri
New York : Anchor Books, 1993.
500 p. ; 24 cm.   

There have been some great YA books recently by authors that have used the rich well of Nigerian history and culture to create their fictional worlds.  I'm thinking of the incredibly talented Nnedi Okorafor (reviewed here) and the highly successful Tomi Ayedemi.  But I had no idea that Ben Okri was setting wildly fantastic fiction in Nigeria (his homeland) back in the early 1990s. 

I had simply wanted to read some of the African fiction that we have in our collection and I liked the title (!) and the fact that The Famished Road had won the prestigious Booker Prize back in 1991. When I started reading it, I had no idea it was such a romp through the strange and surreal.  The novel follows the harsh life of a boy born to poor parents in Nigeria as the country transitions from the depredations of colonialism to the depredations of corrupt and predatory capitalism with its violence of political upheaval. 

There is a lot to admire in the novel: a rich surrealism and dreamy realism that weaves back and forth through the novel, and some moments that are painfully relevant, e.g. battles between the Rich People's party and the Poor People's party.  I think the weakness of the book is that it is long and rambling and would have had a lot more emotional power if had been edited by about 30%.  That being said, I think it would make an interesting pairing with Achebe's Things Fall Apart, or with Garcia Marquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude. Also it's a wildly original novel.

I don't think it's a book I'd highly recommend to students unless someone was asking about African fiction or magical realism.

Pow! Graphic Girl Power

Fight Like a Girl by David Pinckney, illus. by Soo Lee
[U.S.] : Action Lab, [2015]
1 v. (unpaged) : chiefly col. ill. ; 26 cm.

This graphic novel [compilation of issues #1-4 of Fight Like a Girl] was recommended by Kat Kan in VOYA's October 2015 issue.  She commented on the positive diversity of the main character (and authors) and - validating her judgment - the first student to check it out, loved it and recommended I read it.

I liked it, but thought it could have been much better.  The art is pretty good, the story of a girl having to fight life or death challenges set by a panel of gods held promise, but the plotting just seemed jumpy and weak.

I especially found it distracting how the one weapon she takes in is just a baseball bat - but one that can miraculously turn into a vicious chainsaw and even a robot-killing, giant super-blaster. So what's the big danger of her challenges?

Oh well, I just like a little tighter logic within the sci-fi/fantasy genre.  I guess that's why I'm not a big fan of the Star Wars movies.  But other people love it, and the racial diversity, hipness, and strong female protagonist are factors that weigh in for recommending this comic book.

 

Cruel Justice

Messenger of Fear by Michael Grant
New York, NY : Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2015.
260, 12 p. ; 21 cm. 

Michael Grant is no stranger to writing bestsellers - his sprawling Gone series is popular, and I'm guessing this new series will do pretty well, too. 

The novel opens with a confused and disoriented main character seemingly lost in a surreal, magical and ominous reality of mists, muted colors and strange characters.  As the novel develops the reader learns that it is a supernatural world of spirits, demons, and demigods that lies behind everyday reality - and is the realm in which justice and injustice are exacted against rather puny and powerless humans who transgress against the moral order.

Grant is good at creating a frightening, magical and oppressive atmosphere and conveying the ways in which fear and imagination can be as terrifying as actual physical events. 

The writing is a little uneven.  I found that it got better as it went along.  The plotting is pretty good, though my guess is that readers will question question just how immoral some of the actions of characters are.  Is it really so terrible to kill off an animal that has been badly hurt in an accident - does it require the intervention of the cosmic forces of good and evil?

Problems aside, I think that readers wanting a creative horror novel will enjoy this read.  As School Library Journal put it in a review, the book will "delight those readers who enjoy a little gore and horror in their books."

Fled is that Music

Wake by Lisa McMann
New York : Simon Pulse, 2009, c2008.
210 p. ; 21 cm.

I finally read Wake because it is popular with students and has been reissued  (along with its companion books) by Simon & Schuster.  It was an easy read, but a bit uneven.

McMann creates a very clever plot - a girl, Janie, who finds that she is uncontrollably drawn into other people's dreams.  As she comes of age, she gradually learns to control this condition and even learns that she can shape content and direction of the dream she enters.

A lot of the novel revolves around her growing attraction to a male friend Cabel - a relationship that moves from friendship to a sweet romance.

I found the writing to be uneven at times, occasionally feeling very choppy and disjointed.  I found myself wondering why the editor didn't take a more active role in shaping the final production of the novel.  I also felt that the introduction of spirituality (a dead person visits Janie in her dreams and it is clear that the spirit is real) undercuts the understated realism of Janie's dreamworld powers.  Finally, I found some of the plot twists toward the end to be more like TV show plotting instead of good fiction.

Overall, a strong start, but a vision that fades (and so the title of this post).  Problems aside, Wake is a fun read and one that clearly appeals to young readers, so I'll give it a thumbs up with some qualifications.

Peculiar, Creepy, and Wildly Inventive

A found photo from Riggs' collection.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Philadelphia : Quirk Books, 2013.
382 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.

I might have missed this book if not for a donation from our local Barnes & Noble store.  They gave our library several copies of various books from their "World Book Night"- including Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.  I was intrigued by the cover...

...and thumbed through it to see that it was filled with enigmatic,evocative and unsettling photographs from times gone by.  I was definitely hooked.

The novel combines history (WWII and Holocaust survivors), time travel, monsters, the supernatural, danger, and romance - as Ransom Riggs weaves a great story sparked by his own hobby/obsession with old photographs.

I really enjoyed the wonderfully imaginative interweaving of photos and story.  As you read the novel, you will find the related photo reprinted within close proximity the page you're on. The photos are memorable and haunting in their own right, and add an element of "is this true" to what is otherwise a truly "out of this world" thriller.

I will definitely recommend this book to students looking for "something different," students who like fantasy/supernatural, and to any student who enjoys horror/monster/paranormal stories, too.

Compass, Knife, Spyglass

An Alethiometer

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman

The Golden Compass (bk. 1)
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, c1995.
399 p. ; 22 cm.


The Subtle Knife  (bk. 2) 
 New York : Ballantine Books, 1998.
288 p. ; 18 cm.


The Amber Spyglass  (bk. 3)
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, c2000.
518 p. ; 22 cm. 

I read The Golden Compass about 12 years ago for a class in young adult literature.  I thought it was pretty good at the time, but also remember having to rush through it so as to finish all the books on the class reading list.  When my son - who is now several years out of high school - heard me say I was fishing around for some books to read during this summer, he said , "You really ought to read all the books in the The Golden Compass series," better known as His Dark Materials.  I decided I would read them, and I have to say that I enjoyed them a lot.

The trilogy is a fantasy, science fiction tour de force. It manages to explore ideas of the multiverse, religion, theology, particle physics, war, loyalty, family, etc. within a wildly imaginative and every expanding story of adventure, danger, betrayal, loyalty and love.  Religion and theology plays a central role in the books, and so it is no wonder that Pullman's series has faced many challenges and controversy (think Banned Books Week!)

For myself, I liked The Golden Compass best.  I think it is the most spare and elegant - the next installments begin to layer on more and more elements of the supernatural - angels, god, the alternate worlds, etc. to the point where I found it a bit much.  The Golden Compass is also the book that presents Pullman's great conceit - the daemon, an intelligent animal embodiment of the persons psyche/soul.  It's really a marvelous concept and well developed throughout the trilogy.  Though the first book was my favorite, I have no doubt that fantasy fans would love all three.  There are great characters, exciting plot developments, and really wonderful expositions of the setting, etc.

Do you know a fantasy reader who has not read His Dark Materials?  If so they won't be disappointed.

A Game of Thrones
by George R. R. Martin
New York : Bantam Books, 2011, c1996.
835 p. : maps ; 18 cm.

Writing about A Game of Thrones in the London Review of Books, John Lanchester comments that there are many avid readers who will read just about anything, but will absolutely not read fantasy and science fiction.  That is almost an accurate description of me, except I will read a fantasy and sci fi that has become extremely popular, or is recommended to me by students.  A Game of Thrones definitely fits that description, and I'm glad I read it.

A Game of Thrones represents complex, unpredictable storytelling at it's best.  A character being a main character is no guarantee that he or she will still be alive at the end of the novel - and there is so much treachery, clandestine plotting, and violent conflict - that the plot itself presents surprise after surprise.  Likewise the novel may be moving along in an extremely realistic fashion when suddenly a supernatural element appears so seamlessly that I it caused me to do a reader's double-take.

I think the thing that pleased me most about Martin's Game of Thrones was that it really is well written.  I found myself at times quiet taken by the skill of descriptive setting, or the nuanced personality of a character.  Though - like many fantasy worlds of fiction - it can get a bit complicated and the reader may find herself rechecking the maps at the front of the book and the appendices at the back - the book does not disappoint.

This is not a book that a librarian needs to recommend - though written in the 1990s, the book (and series) has become something of a publishing phenomena due to the wildly successful HBO series which it inspired.  The book also has mature content, containing scenes of violence and sexuality.

Wind, Mist, Shipwrecks and Shadows

The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
New York: Little, Brown, 2011, c2010.
232p. ; 21 cm.
[trans. from Spanish] 

Ruiz Zafón is the author of the bestselling novel, The Shadow of the Wind, which I read about 5 years ago on the recommendation of an exchange student from Argentina who was attending our high school.  He was very enthusiastic about Shadow of the Wind, telling me it was the best book he ever read and that it changed his life!  I read it and was an immediate fan.  So, when The Prince of Mist was recently published in the US, I bought it for our library right away.

The Prince of Mist is interesting in that it is Ruiz Zafón's first novel, and was written back in 1993.  It was published in Spain and was both written for and marketed to young adults - unlike Shadow of the Wind, which was written for adults.

I was not surprised to find out that The Prince of Mist was his first novel - the writing is just not as accomplished as his later novel.  That he wrote it for younger readers is also apparent in that the writing is far more conventional and cliched than his later work. I was wondering as I read it, if some of the weaker passages were the fault of the author or the translator - but since Lucia Graves is the translator of both, I'm guessing the shortcomings are of the author.

Shortcomings aside, The Prince of Mist is a great read.  It's an excellent example of an atmospheric novel - set in an indeterminate place along the coast during WWII, where clocks sometimes run backwards, statues move, and a cat has more personality than many people you may know.  It also has a lot of nice touches of creepy horror - demonic voices, a malign cat, an evil clown, a shipwreck where all but one passenger died, etc. The book is also well plotted, compelling the reader to want to find out what happens, and has romance, family relationships, romance and a climatic violent struggle.  The novel is also a good example of the archetype "fairy tale" between good and evil, promises made and broken, and the dangers of making deals with the "devil."


I was meaning to read it when I bought it - since I liked Shadow of the Wind so much - but I knew I had to read it when a student returned it recently and asked if we had the sequel to the book.  He definitely liked The Prince of Mist and was eager to read the next book by Ruiz Zafón,.

Werewolves, and Vampires, and Shadow Hunters, Oh My!

City of Bones

by Cassandra Clare
New York : Simon Pulse, 2007.
1st U.S. ed.
340 p. ; 24 cm.

I have to be up front and admit that this is not really my kind of book, but that being said, it was a fun read with a very imaginative and compelling plot. Where does one start with this realistic/fantasy set in New York. Regular high school girl Clara Fray quickly finds out she's anything but regular and quickly becomes part of the world that we regular folks (mundanes) never see. It is a world of demon killers (shadow hunters), down worlders, raveners, the Forsaken, magic, portals, etc. (you get the picture). The story revolves around Clara coming into her own as she seeks to find out who she really is, how she can save her mother, and who she can love and trust.

Clara is an admirable protagonist - not ridiculously smart, but smart, brave, loyal and oddly normal. The strange coexistence of magic and the normal world recalls Rowling, Gaiman, and Meyer. The plot has just enough romance along with plenty of fights, blood and scariness.

This is the first book in a trilogy, and I assume it will be popular.