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Reeve, Philip. 2006. A Darkling Plain. (The Hungry City Chronicles #4). HarperCollins. 559 pages.

Theo had been climbing since dawn; first on the steep roads and paths and sheep tracks behind the city, then across slopes of shifting scree, and up at last onto the bare mountainside, keeping where he could to corries and crevices where the blue shadows pooled.

I don't know if A Darkling Plain was all that much longer than the previous three books in the Hungry City Chronicles, or if it just felt like it. The book is a direct sequel to Infernal Devices. In many ways this is where it all happens, where it all goes down. All the books leading up to this point, this big showdown between warring powers. More action, less set-up. And action is good, right? But here's the thing, I personally liked the less climatic but funnier books which set this one up. That's just me.

There are so many characters--some we've known all along like Stalker Grike, Tom Natsworthy and Hester Shaw; others are newer to us like Wren Natsworthy, Fishcake, and Theo; some have been renamed like Lady Naga; others are completely new. (And let's not forget my personal favorite, Pennyroyal). And the plot is so complex. I'm not even going to try to go there. Needless, to say the "fate" of Earth is to be decided upon in this final book in the Hungry City Chronicles.

I will spend a few minutes, however, trying to convince you that you should read the series for yourself. I liked this series for the most part. The characters were well done. No character was all good or all bad. Most of the 'bad' guys had something about them that made them just a smidgen likable. If not likable, at least understandable. I don't know about you, but one of the things that drives me crazy is when bad guys are bad for no reason. When writers fail to develop these villainous characters, when they expect us to buy into the idea that they're evil incarnate pure and simple and without any humanity at all. The characters are complex. And that's a good thing. No where is that truer than in the case of Hester Shaw, a true love-to-hate, hate-to-love mess of a character. We're conflicted because she's conflicted. The characters are also memorable. Good, bad, or somewhere in between, I don't think I'll be forgetting Pennyroyal or Grike anytime soon. I liked the humor. Yes, this was serious end-of-the-world type drama, but there were enough purely funny moments that it was a delight to read. Mind you, I wouldn't want to live in this world! Bad things can and do happen. The books also had plenty of action and drama. I'm not all-about-action, I'm more character driven than plot driven...but I know plenty of readers who want fast-moving plots--action and adventure and danger and the like. This book had it and then some.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Roe, Monica M. 2008. Thaw.

Our narrator, Dane Rafferty, is a dumb boy. And that's not an exaggeration. He's a boy that really and truly doesn't get it. Doesn't get what it means to be considerate, be nice, be respectful, be humane, be compassionate. Stubborn. Angry. Self-centered. Frustrated.

Dane, when we first meet, him is helpless. Stricken with a disease--Guillain-Barre Syndrome--Dane is paralyzed. The good news, 75% of patients with GBS recover and gain back use of their bodies. Dane is past the worst--he's now able to breathe on his own. But the rest--control of his body from simple things like turning one's head, moving his arms, hands, fingers, sitting up, standing, walking, etc.--is all beyond him. For Dane, an active teen guy--a skier to be exact--this disease has crippled him mentally and emotionally.

The narrative is fractured, told in two parts--then and now. The now is March through May; the then is February. In just a few months, his life has changed--everything has changed. We meet his parents, his girlfriend, his friends through these passages. And what we see is not pretty. Dane is a jerk--pure and simple. But we are also seeing Dane in the present. We understand--or I suppose that should be I understood--why he was bitter and angry and cold. Why he put up such a defensive stand. He's angry at himself. Angry at his body. Frustrated with everybody including himself. He doesn't know how to trust. He doesn't know how to be patient. He doesn't know how to accept help.

The book is well-written. Very authentic. Even when Dane is acting like an a**, it feels like he's an authentic one. His coming-of-age story is powerful in its vulnerable honesty. This one's definitely worth sticking with, the pay off is very satisfying. One of my favorite aspects? The characterization. Everyone has depth. The story and characters are intricately done. Loved it.

Set in Florida and New York.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Rees, Celia. 2008. Sovay.

I liked this one a lot. It is about a female--young teen girl--highwayman. She didn't begin her life of crime out of need, or even for thrills. No, she began--her first armed robbery--solely for revenge. 1790s. England. Sovay is a young woman engaged to be married. When she learns that he has cheated on her, she begins plotting her revenge. But what she doesn't know is how trivial this will all seem within a few days. Sovay's family--her father, her brother especially--will soon be threatened; their lives at danger if they're found. For Sovay learns that her family is about to be charged with treason--among other charges--they stand accused of having the wrong views on the French revolution, of being symphatetic with the uprisers in France. The charges aren't exactly true--they support the philosophies not the murderous actions of the people--but true or not...there are people who will stop at nothing to destroy her family. Sovay is an adventurous, strong, intelligent heroine.

I won't go into much detail. It was fun. It was enjoyable. It was delightful. Most of the reviews of this one that I've come across have found it disappointing in one way or another. The readers have read other books they feel are better or more worthwhile. I haven't had that much experience with this time period, with this subject. So I didn't find it disappointing. I didn't find it unoriginal or uninspired. I found it entertaining and well paced. I enjoyed every minute I spent with this one.

Here is the UK book cover. Which cover do you like best?

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Reinhardt, Dana. 2008. How To Build A House.

The third time isn't the charm. (Her first two novels are: A Brief Chapter In My Impossible Life and Harmless.) It may just be time for me to dissent from public opinion and admit that Dana Reinhardt's books just aren't to my liking. It might be easier on both of us. Especially since her books are generally received well. Her first book especially seemed to be buzz-worthy.

I can almost guarantee you will enjoy this one much much more than I did. (I know I'm in the minority in disliking it.) You might even love it. The premise is relatively simple, a teen girl, Harper, goes away for the summer to join a team of other teens. Their project is to build a house for a family whose home was destroyed in a tornado. The themes are love and friendship. It's easily categorized as a coming-of-age story. A story of how this young woman heals herself and becomes older and wiser because she's learned some life-lessons and had some self-realizations. It's a story of a broken woman beginning the journey towards becoming whole. Why does she need healing? Her family is "broken." Her father and stepmother are divorcing. Her stepsister, Tess, is barely speaking to her any more. Her friends-with-benefits, Gabriel, is treating her horribly.

What didn't I like about the novel? The narrator Harper. She's smug. She's condescending. She's a bit stupid. Maybe stupid isn't the best word. She's a bit unwise at times when it comes to acting, thinking, and speaking. She is polar opposite to everything I like. She doesn't believe in wearing jeans--she "can't" wear them. She hates country music*. She's an atheist. Well. Mostly. She's a nonbeliever that is obsessed with listening to Christian rock music** so she can make fun of it. She loves to mock their enthusiasm and passion. She doesn't appreciate it on a musical or spiritual level. And that's not the only thing she mocks. I am not sure if it is the narrator or the author--but something felt very condescending and smug about how the South was treated. But perhaps more annoying than even the mocking of Christianity is her obsession with lecturing every single person she meets with her environmental save-the-world-humans-are-evil spiel.

Did I like nothing about the novel? I did like a few of the characters. In particular, I liked Teddy. I don't know what he saw in Harper. But Teddy himself I liked.

*Now it's not like I *only* love country music. I love many many different types of music. But there are country music phases in my life. In high school particularly I lived for country music--Tim McGraw, George Strait, Garth Brooks, Clay Walker, John Michael Montgomery, Brooks & Dunn, etc.
**I will be the first to admit that a few groups are dinky. And sometimes it feels like the dinky ones are the ones that get the air time. But I seriously doubt if this author listened to actual Christian rock music. If she had, she wouldn't have found much to mock. I have rarely listened to Christian radio. But I'm well-schooled in Christian music because I buy CDs. Have been listening Christian music at least twenty-five years. If she'd called it "gospel" or "Southern gospel" or "praise & worship" or "contemporary" I could understand where she's coming from a bit better. But Christian rock? Methinks she's clueless.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Reynolds, Abigail. 2008. Impulse and Initiative: A Pride and Prejudice Variation.

This book sets out to answer these questions, "What if...instead of disappearing from Elizabeth Bennet's life after she refused his offer of marriage, Mr. Darcy had stayed and tried to change her mind? What if...Lizzy as she gets to know Darcy, finds him undeniably attractive and her impulses win out over her sense of propriety? What if...madly in love and mutually on fire, their passion anticipates their wedding?"

I have mixed feelings on this one. I do. Pride and Prejudice is one of those books that is practically perfect in every way. One of those happy-making books that you enjoy reading with a big smile on your face. Mr. Darcy is just so perfect, just the way he is. So I've never thought about him needing improvement. Never imagined him courting Elizabeth any other way. Never thought their relationship lacked sizzle.

And this book sets out to re-imagine those beloved characters. It is a variation in tone, in character, and in plot. Mr. Darcy is madly in love with Elizabeth. But she's hesitant about his wooing. For Darcy, as Reynolds envisions him, this means that he needs to turn up the heat. If she won't respond to his true-heart-revelations, perhaps she'll respond to his touch, his kiss, his embrace. If he can make her melt, drive her wild with passion, then surely she'll consent to become Mrs. Darcy. Right?

The problem with this is that to win her that way, he has to resort to becoming everything he despises. Darcy is fundamentally a gentleman at heart. A Mr. Darcy without morals, without propriety, without thought or concern for a lady's reputation--his lady's reputation--is almost unimaginable until now. Darcy borrowing from Wickham? Really?! An Elizabeth whose reputation is in tatters, who has become the disappointment of her father, who has adopted Lydia's it-feels-so-good-it-can't-be-wrong philosophy?!

The writing. Reynolds' writing is not fundamentally bad. It's not that she doesn't know how to write, how to turn a phrase, how to write scenes that work. Stylistically, on the surface, everything about this one works. The characters. The scenes. All good--maybe not brilliantly, great (award-winning great) but not bad. Certainly entertaining. Certainly on the level of other romance novelists. But it's the fact that it's Mr. Darcy. It's Elizabeth. Their love isn't supposed to be smutty. Respect. Purity. Both qualities that they'd expect to find in the other, and hold themselves to as well.

There were enjoyable aspects of this novel. I must say that I smiled when it was Elizabeth who came home and announced that she'd married first. You know those smug scenes between Lydia and her mother and sisters. The ones where she's bragging that she got married first. That she got her man. That married life was so wonderful. Now it's Elizabeth's turn to boast.
And there are a few other enjoyable scenes as well. I like, in a way, the conversations between Darcy and Elizabeth trying to prove to themselves (reassure themselves) why it was right for them to have sex, but wrong for Wickham and Lydia. I suppose they rationalize it all by intentions. Wickham is a jerk, a lusty jerk that is selfish and only looking out for himself. And Darcy, well his intentions are honorable even if his actions aren't. And while one might think Elizabeth's own tainted (impure) experience might give her sympathy or understanding for her sister and her sister's giving into temptation...you'd be wrong. Elizabeth still feels a bit superior to her sister. Still judges her for the foolish idiot she is.

If you're looking for Pride and Prejudice with smut inserted, then this one is for you.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Rinaldi, Ann. 2008. The Redheaded Princess.

The Redheaded Princess. What can I say about this one? It's a fictional novel--for teens--about Princess Elizabeth. The novel opens when she's a child and she's still estranged from her father, King Henry VIII. The novel closes with the death of her sister, Queen Mary, a.k.a Bloody Mary. In between, there are many ups and downs along the way. Her semi-reconciliation with her father and his newest and latest wife, Katharine. Her relationship with her half-brother, Edward, the boy who would become King (and did in fact become King) yet who never really "reigned" on his own. Too young. Too sickly. Her very, very strange relationship with Thomas Seymour. Her turbulent relationship with her older half-sister, Mary.

Elizabeth's life was strange. No doubt about it. Never knowing her mother, only really hearing about how she had "bewitched" the King into divorcing his wife. She was presented to the girl as a whore and a witch. Someone dangerous to imitate. She had a distant relationship with her father. Sometimes in favor and in court, other times forgotten and left to fend for herself in the country. Not that she was alone. She had her servants, her friends, her tutors. But still. Without parental guidance let's say. And she didn't have normal family relationships with her brother and sister either. When one sibling has the power of life and death over the others, the power to imprison, things can get messy very very quickly.

The plotting. Oh the plotting. The scheming. It seems that there was never an end to the number of people who wanted to use these three children as pawns to gain favor, esteem, wealth, and power. Manipulations. Trying to turn the family against one another time and time again.

The religion. I wonder if readers grasp just how big this Catholic versus Protestant issue was back in the day. Where being one or the other could cost you your life. To realize just how opposing and judgmental they were of one another. It is hard, I think, for readers to grasp until they've studied the era, studied the writers of that time period. This was really and truly life and death stuff. And believers had to be ready to die for how they chose to worship. For how they viewed the sacraments.

Anyway, if you're already familiar with the Tudors, with Henry VIII and his children (Mary, Elizabeth, Edward), then you won't learn much more than you already know. If you're not that familiar, this would be a nice place to start.

This novel would be a good companion to Rinaldi's previous novel, Nine Days A Queen: The Short Life and Reign of Lady Jane Grey.

The real question may be how does this one compare to Carolyn Meyer's series on the Young Tudor women.
Mary, Bloody Mary. Doomed Queen Anne. Patience, Princess Catherine. Beware Princess Elizabeth. And the answer to that would be purely subjective.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Rappaport, Doreen. 2008. Lady Liberty: A Biography. Illustrated by Matt Tavares.

Lady Liberty is both beautifully written and beautifully illustrated. Though I must admit it was the illustrations that first caught my eye. I love Tavares' style. The colors. The tones. There's just something so rich, so expressive. It works for me really really well. I just love the illustrations. They are a large part of why this book is so amazing. The book itself, Lady Liberty, tells the twenty year story of how 'Lady Liberty' came to be.


The Statue of Liberty has come to symbolize America. To symbolize freedom. To symbolize all our nation stands for and believes. This is the story of her creation to her dedication ceremony a little over twenty years later.

The story is told through poems. Poems with many voices or narrators all telling one story, sharing one dream. Two nations, one goal.

My favorite, if I had to choose, is the poem narrated by Emma Lazarus.

Emma Lazarus
Poet
New York City,November 1883

A gala auction is being held
to raise money for Liberty's pedestal.
Famous artists are donating paintings.
I was asked to write a poem
to be sold along with poems
by Longfellow and Whitman.
It is a great honor to be asked.
I can write about anything I want.
But I have had trouble writing lately
because I feel too sad.

In the past few years in Russia,
hundreds of Jews have been killed.
Thousands have been persecuted,
their homes burned, their shops destroyed.
They trek hundreds of miles across Europe
with only the clothes on their backs,
hoping to find ships to take them to America.

We Jews are not new to hatred.
Almost two hundred years ago
my ancestors fled Europe, too.
America was a land of hope for them.
it is still a land of hope.

Soon when people arrive in the New World,
they will be welcomed
by a caring, powerful woman.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me:
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

A note before I get into this weeks topic:
THE PAWS AND CLAWS GALA WEBSITE is up!
Scroll down to see the developing piece I'm working on.

Making "the list"...

A very important part of being an illustrator that can actually survive off of the jobs they obtain requires marketing. While I did do a limited amount of marketing last year, I've taken it upon myself to up my antics this year. As I hope to be a full time freelancing illustrator again by summer (for those of you who don't know, my husband went back to school for 3D animation and modelling last fall and with the pressure of supporting us both on one income I took up a part time job and leapt into as many local craft markets as I could to sell my work face-to-face) I'll need to be exposing myself to the biggest audience I can.

Here's a list of things I'd like to accomplish marketing-wise in 2008:

1) Update website by taking dreamweaver/flash classes
2) Get my portfolio on children's illustrators.com
3) Do another postcard run
4) Enter contests (commarts,applied arts, ACE awards)
5) Become involved in charity auctions with my art (down for 3 this year already)
6) Reasearch other ways to reach clients in children's illustraton market (European emphasis while dollar is strong)
7) Update portfolio for my agent, Maggie on a monthly basis (min)
8) Do group art show for fine art exposure
9) Sign up for more arts/craft markets