Review: Charmed Vengeance

Charmed Vengeance
by Suzanne Lazear
The Aether Chronicles, book two

Book Description: 

When her true love, Steven, is forced to break their magical bond, Noli Braddock decides to join her brother on the crew of the Vixen’s Revenge.

With its gleaming brass, dark wood, and spotless clockwork gears, the Vixen’s Revenge is a beautiful airship. But Noli discovers a dangerous secret beneath its polished exterior—the crew has been hired to steal dozens of priceless Otherworld artifacts. Desperate to keep her past Otherworld experiences hidden from the airship crew, Noli fears that if she doesn’t risk telling her own secrets, the stolen artifacts will be used to destroy both of the worlds she loves.

Review:
I loved diving back into this charming blend of steampunk and faerie lore. Lazear does a brilliant job blending traditional faerie legends and affectations into an alternate history of the US. This particular book spans the country, too, which made for a lot of interesting scene changes. With the faerie realm underlayed, though, the country almost felt small, and the amazing airships made traveling a breeze.

In some ways this book truly was a bridge between the first and what will be coming in the third. There's a lot of set up for the next portion of Noli's story and characters were introduced or brought back in ways that lead directly to how they'll play a part in the next tale, yet it still felt as though it had its own legs to stand on. *NOT* to say that I wasn't immediately left wanting the next book, but I'm also happy with where things were left...for now.

A lot of that contentment with this book derives from seeing how Noli progresses as a character. Having to deal with her new...situation...bridging the gap between the mortal and faerie realms. Seeing how the people in her world help those two realms collide...there were a lot of feelings in this book...

Readers who love romance, faeries, adventure, steampunk, and alternate histories should check out book one in the series, Innocent Darkness!

What's On My Hold List?

Welcome back to

"What's on My Hold List?"

This is the May 2013 edition!

One of the most beautiful things about working at our Library is that I know what's coming out and what we'll be getting and I can put the books on hold right away!

Boundless 

by Cynthia Hand

Unearthly, book three

Charmed Vengeance

by Suzanne Lazear 

The Aether Chronicles, book two

The Nightmare Affair 

by Mindee Arnett

The Elite 

by Kiera Cass

The Selection, book two 

*If you click on each title, it will take you to the book on

Amazon.com for more information. :)*

So, these are the books I'm waiting anxiously to get my hands on...

what are YOU waiting for??

Review: The Peculiar

The Peculiar
by Stefan Bachmann

Book Description:

Don't get yourself noticed and you won't get yourself hanged.

In the faery slums of Bath, Bartholomew Kettle and his sister Hettie live by these words. Bartholomew and Hettie are changelings—Peculiars—and neither faeries nor humans want anything to do with them.

One day a mysterious lady in a plum-colored dress comes gliding down Old Crow Alley. Bartholomew watches her through his window. Who is she? What does she want? And when Bartholomew witnesses the lady whisking away, in a whirling ring of feathers, the boy who lives across the alley—Bartholomew forgets the rules and gets himself noticed.

First he's noticed by the lady in plum herself, then by something darkly magical and mysterious, by Jack Box and the Raggedy Man, by the powerful Mr. Lickerish . . . and by Arthur Jelliby, a young man trying to slip through the world unnoticed, too, and who, against all odds, offers Bartholomew friendship and a way to belong.

Review: 

The world that Bachmann built here was very intriguing. I was impressed that the author is only a *teenager!* He managed to drop me into a world that felt very real, and very alien from our own. As a lover of all things fairy, a fan of the steampunk sub-genre and a murder mystery fan, this book hit just about every right note for me. Bachmann did an admirable job mashing several genres together while not overwhelming the reader.

I distinctly enjoyed both the new world and the concept for this book. At times, though, I felt slightly disconnected to the main characters. While I found Bartholomew to be a character I felt great sympathy for, at times he was hard to connect to, and when the perspective would jump to Arthur, I found that to be even more true. I was very interested in seeing how things unfolded. I wanted Bartholomew to save his sister. I wanted Arthur to uncover his government's corruption...

Essentially, I enjoyed this book a lot and I hope there might be another in the works... I hope in the second that I have an easier time connecting to the characters, though, too.

DNF - Cuttlefish

Cuttlefish

by Dave Freer

Book Description:

The smallest thing can change the path of history.

The year is 1976, and the British Empire still spans the globe. Coal drives the world, and the smog of it hangs thick over the canals of London. Clara Calland is on the run. Hunted, along with her scientist mother, by Menshevik spies and Imperial soldiers, they flee Ireland for London. They must escape airships, treachery, and capture. Under flooded London's canals, they join the rebels who live in the dank tunnels there. Tim Barnabas is one of the underpeople, born to the secret town of drowned London, place of anti-imperialist republicans and Irish rebels, part of the Liberty—the people who would see a return to older values and free elections. Seeing no farther than his next meal, Tim has hired on as a submariner on the Cuttlefish, a coal-fired submarine that runs smuggled cargoes beneath the steamship patrols, to the fortress America and beyond. When the Imperial soldiery comes ravening, Clara and her mother are forced to flee aboard the Cuttlefish. Hunted like beasts, the submarine and her crew must undertake a desperate voyage across the world, from the Faeroes to the Caribbean and finally across the Pacific to find safety. But only Clara and Tim Barnabas can steer them past treachery and disaster, to freedom in Westralia. Carried with them—a lost scientific secret that threatens the very heart of Imperial power.

Review:
Very, very occasionally, I pick up a book that just doesn't work for me soooo badly that I can't even try to finish it.  This is one of those cases.  I call these books DNFs, or Did Not Finishs.

I very much loved the idea of this book. I'm very into steampunk and I loved the sound of a very interesting submarine adventure... As I read, though, I had a very hard time with the tone of this book. Within the first few chapters there are some very exciting explosions and escapes, yet they are revealed in such a third person past-tense way that there was no EXCITEMENT. It just fell flat for me. Unfortunately I have so many books that I need to read that I just couldn't make the time to finish this one.

If you think this book sounds cool, though, you should still check it out.  In fact, you can see some other reviewers opinions here:
Shiny Book Review
Justin's Book Blog
Lovey Dovey Books

Gold Star Review: Etiquette and Espionage

Etiquette and Espionage

by Gail Carriger

Finishing School, book one

Publication date: February 5, 2013

Book Description:
It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners--and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's, young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but the also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage--in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education.

Review:
Gail Carriger is awesome. I love her blend of steampunk and the paranormal. I LOVED this first book in the Finishing School series. 

The blend of proper behavior, the distinct ignoring of said proper behavior (LOL), adventure, friendships, and "mechanimals" was brilliant. There are airships, balls, poison classes, "sooties," werewolves, and of course, Bumbersnoot. Who is Bumbersnoot? Why he's the most fashionable little mechanical dachsund ever! He eats coal, produces ash, and can conceal a prototype for the proper Lady spy.

The tie-ins to Carriger's adult series had me giggling throughout. Hints dropped here, there, and everywhere. :) I don't want to give anything away, but if you've read her other series, you will find at least one or two familiar faces...

With wonderful witty word choices and frankly fashionable fetes, Etiquette and Espionage is a bang-up start to a new series that leaves me shouting, "HUZZAH!" I cannot wait to return to Finishing School!

 

A gold star book, indeed. And, just to whet the appetite, check out this awesome trailer that was created for the book! LOVE.  

 



Review: The Expeditioners and the Treasure of Drowned Man's Canyon

The Expeditioners and the Treasure of Drowned Man's Canyon

by S. S. Taylor/Illus. by Katherine Roy

 

Book Description:
Computers have failed, electricity is extinct, and the race to discover new lands is underway! Brilliant explorer Alexander West has just died under mysterious circumstances, but not before smuggling half of a strange map to his intrepid children—Kit the brain, M.K. the tinkerer, and Zander the brave. Why are so many government agents trying to steal the half-map? (And where is the other half?) It’s up to Alexander’s children—the Expeditioners—to get to the bottom of these questions, and fast.

 

Review:

Honestly, this was one of the best, most interesting steampunk adventures I've read yet. I think, primarily, because it wasn't *just* steampunk. This is dystopian steampunk. That means that in this world, we've gone beyond the computer age to a period where all that technology was distrusted and society withdrew back to steam power! Very, very cool conceptually.

 

This book has a heavy focus on family relationships, gadgets, and mapmaking/reading. Each of the West children has a different "specialty." M.K. can fix any type of machinery. Zander can almost commune with animals. Our main character, and also the middle sibling, Kit, can read maps and solve codes, having learned from their Explorer father. In this world, too, the Explorers, like Mr. West are on the hunt to map out and claim new lands. They joke about the time when we were convinced that there were only seven continents!

 

 This book was exciting and intriguing and once I started reading, I did not want to put it down. Not only were there great descriptions of new creatures and awesome steampunk technologies, but the illustrator did an amazing job and every chapter there was at least one picture like this one of a typical Explorer's vest, full of cool gadgetry. There were full page illustrations and little ones sprinkled within the text. The book cover also comes off and on the reverse side is a full character sketch of each of the kids and the friend that eventually goes hunting for the secret cavern with them. 

 

This book tackled a great adventure, built an awesome and intriguing world, and also threw in a couple of great moral lessons. I cannot WAIT to read the next book in the series!!

Review: The Peculiars

The Peculiars
by Maureen Doyle McQuerry

Book Description:

On her 18th birthday, Lena Mattacascar decides to search for her father, who disappeared into the northern wilderness of Scree when Lena was young. Scree is inhabited by Peculiars, people whose unusual characteristics make them unacceptable to modern society. Lena wonders if her father is the source of her own extraordinary characteristics and if she, too, is Peculiar. On the train she meets a young librarian, Jimson Quiggley, who is traveling to a town on the edge of Scree to work in the home and library of the inventor Mr. Beasley. The train is stopped by men being chased by the handsome young marshal Thomas Saltre. When Saltre learns who Lena’s father is, he convinces her to spy on Mr. Beasley and the strange folk who disappear into his home, Zephyr House. A daring escape in an aerocopter leads Lena into the wilds of Scree to confront her deepest fears.

 

Review:

I have mixed feelings about this book and I'm not sure exactly how to describe how I felt upon finishing it. There were things I really loved, but somehow I still found this book to be lacking...something. I am somewhat frustrated because I can't seem to identify exactly what it seems to need! Grr...

I liked the steampunk aspects of this book. There were some cool inventions and I especially liked the description of the unique doors that guarded Mr. Beasley's fantastic library. The horseless carriages were cool, too.

I liked that this book delved into the realm of the fantastic. People with wings, half-goblins, and other strange mutations. It was an interesting exploration of what it meant to be "human." But... a lot of this aspect of the book wasn't even really address until the last third of the book and it's really left not fully explained to fulfill the need for a sequel.

Lena was an interesting character, but she wasn't great. I was actually more interested in Mr. Beasley, the well intentioned and handsome young librarian Jimson Quiggley, and even the beastly marshal that ends up trying to hunt everyone down. While I was fairly solidly invested in the world of the book, I did not find myself that much behind the main character. :/

Were it not for the action sequence at the end and the idea that the Scree will be more fully explored in the next book, I would find this one almost forgettable. It was by no means awful, but I wanted SO much more. 

If you read it, tell me what YOU think about the book!!



Review: Innocent Darkness

Innocent Darkness
by Suzanne Lazear
The Aether Chronicles, book one

Book Description:

Noli Braddock and her best friend V’s incident with a flying auto have landed them in a heap of trouble. And when Noli is sent to a spirit-squelching reform school in San Francisco, she’s sure that her rebellious adventures are over.

Meanwhile, Kevighn Silver has been ordered by the Faerie Queen to bring a mortal girl back to the Otherworld. The magic requires a blood sacrifice every seven years, and only a mortal girl who shines with the Spark—a girl like Noli—will keep the Otherworld from complete destruction.

When an ill-timed wish sends Noli tumbling into the Otherworld, she’s more homesick than ever . . . until V arrives to save her from an untimely demise. But who exactly is V? And if he helps Noli escape, who will save the realm of Faerie from utter annihilation? 

Review:

I LOVED this book. Seriously. I love steampunk. I love faeries. To find an author that had the vision to combine the two?? Awesome!

Okay, let me try to talk myself down a little bit here...become a little more coherent. LOL. Let's see. Why did I LOVE this book? Well it starts out with a girl who refuses to become the perfect little society Lady taking a flying car for an illegal joyride...awesome. Then she gets sent to a reform school (read punishments and pretty much prison with tea time, here) and finds a faery garden in the backyard.

When the High Queen's faerie Huntsman, (who is the perfect version of a Huntsman, BTW, relying on charm and good looks to lure the ultimate prey, humans) finds Noli there, he ends up sweeping her off to the Otherworld to turn her into the sacrifice that can save all Fae. Unbeknownst to Noli, her best friend and next-door neighbor, Steven...aka V, has a few secrets of his own and when Noli disappears, he sets out to find her.

So, without giving *everything* away, here are things that kept me smiling all the way through the book:

*Romance
*Faeries
*Amazing Gardens
*Silly garden games reminiscent of the croquet in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
*Danger
*Sacrifice
*Swordplay
*Mechanical Hair Accessories
*Fantastic and Impractical Clothing

...and much more! I cannot wait to see what Lazear gives us in book two. So far, she's hinted that there will be air pirates. AIR PIRATES, people!! *fans self* Sorry, got a little overexcited there, again. :D


What's on My Hold List?

Welcome back to

"What's on My Hold List?"

This is the August 2012 edition!

One of the most beautiful things about working at our Library is that I know what's coming out and what we'll be getting and I can put the books on hold right away!

 

These are some of the books that I'm currently waiting for:

 

Bluefish

by Pat Schmatz

 

Dust Girl

by Sarah Zettel

The American Fairy Trilogy, book one



 

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

by Jacqueline Kelly

 



Fever Moon: The Graphic Novel

by Karen Marie Moning

 

Framed and Dangerous

by Kim Harrington

Sleuth or Dare, book three

 

The Peculiars

by Maureen Doyle McQuerry

 

 

 

*If you click on each title, it will take you to the book on

Amazon.com for more information. :)*

 

So, these are the books I'm waiting anxiously to get my hands on...

what are YOU waiting for??

Announcing... Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

Any fans of Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices trilogy out there?  If so, hot off the presses for you...the cover and synopsis to the final book: CLOCKWORK PRINCESS!!

Publication date: March 13, 2013

In Clockwork Princess, Tessa and her companions travel all over the world as they race to stop the clockwork army before it's too late. As Jem's health worsens alarmingly and his friends search desperately for a cure, can Tessa choose between the two boys she loves — even if it means never seeing the other one again?

Are you curious about Steampunk?

Steampunk in one of today’s growing trends in YA literature but many people still have no idea what steampunk means, let alone if they’ll like reading it. The clearest and most concise definition I could find online says steampunk is “genre fiction typically set in Britain in the 1900′s when steam power was prevalent and prior to the broad use of electricity. The location can be anywhere, however, including North America. Steampunk usually encompasses alternate history elements and fantastical inventions. They are often heavily geared toward science fiction and fantasy. Steampunk comprises romances and non-romances.” Even that definition can lead to some head scratching, though. What does it really mean?

Steampunk is alternate history. Steampunk is awesome gadgetry. Steampunk is corsets, cravats, top hats, goggles, and parasols. Steampunk is a variety of little elements that add up to a very unique reading experience. So, how to do you figure out if you might be a steampunk lover? Here are some questions you could ask to find out:

• Are you a fan of historical settings?
• Do you love when characters use cool gadgets?
• Are you fascinated by clothing from different eras?
• Do you find yourself dropping slang you’ve read into regular conversations?

If you answered yes to even one of these questions, you may find that you love steampunk. The next thing you have to figure out is where to start. Even though all steampunk books have core elements that make them fit the subgenre, there are elements that make each have an individual feel. You could definitely start with an anthology of stories like Steampunk, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, or Steampunk!, edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. grant. If only one of the above elements strongly appeals to you, though, you may want to start with a title that fits that element more closely.

For example, historical fiction fans may want to start with Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan trilogy which is an alternate history of World War I. Another classical alternate history is William Gibson and Bruce Sterling’s The Difference Engine, in which Ninteenth Century London is experiencing both the Industrial Revolution and the start of the computer age. These books celebrate both details from our past and the possibilities of what could have been if the world had evolved in different directions.

Fans of gadgetry might be more interested in books like Kady Cross’s The Girl in the Steel Corset, which features some really cool steam-powered bicycles and automatons. Arthur Slade’s The Hunchback Assignments series centers around a hunchback named Modo who happens to be able to shape-shift, but is surrounded by secret agents and villains that utilize the most amazing inventions. These books have the historical version of James Bond’s spy gadgets!

Fashion fans can rejoice in the world of corsets and cravats. Some authors go out of their way to revel in the historical details of the time period, especially in the fashions. Gail Carriger is a perfect example. Her Parasol Protectorate seriesfeatures a heroine who will not leave the house without a parasol, a best friend with the most odious taste in hats, and a Lordly vampire who exemplifies men’s avant garde fashion in Victorian London.

If you find yourself picking up on Georgia Nicholson’s terminology or speaking with a British accent after watching Bridget Jones’ Diary, you may be more into steampunk for the intriguing slang you can incorporate into your everyday vernacular. Philip Reeve’s Larklight series will leave you with a resounding “Huzzah!” Not only is the family heartily British, but their travels through space allow them to combine traditional Victorian slang with imagined space terminology–a wordsmith’s delight.

So whatever the aspect of steampunk that may appeal to you, there is a matching book out there. Watch out, though! Once you’ve delved into your first steampunk novel, you may find that you cannot resist diving back into this complex and imaginative world. The language, the history, the style and the characters will be calling…

Review: Steampunk!

Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories

ed by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant

Book Description:

Imagine an altrnate universe where romance and technology reign. Where tinkerers and dreamers craft and re-craft a world of automatons, clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that never were. Where scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, utopian revolutionaries, and intrepid orphans solve crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships. Here, fourteen masters of speculative fiction, including two graphic storytellers, embrace the genre's established themes and refashion them in surprising ways and settings as diverse as Appalachia, Ancient Rome, future Australia, and alternate California. Visionaries Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant have invited all-new explorations and expansions, taking a genre already rich, strange, and inventive in the extreme and challenging contributors to remake it from the ground up. The result is an anthology that defies the genre even as it defines it.

Review:
I adore steampunk. It's old, it's new, it's mechanical and magical, full of adventure and romance. It is a brilliant sub-genre. Traditionally steampunk means that the book is set in London, while Victoria was Queen, and unlike real life, steam power became the predominant power source.  So lots of flying machines, steam-powered vehicles, and cool gadgets!

That being said, I loved the concept of this anthology. It's like...steampunk twisted. These are tales that all have strong steampunk elements, yet push beyond what we think of as steampunk to become even more. Not a one is set in Victorian London, either!

My favorites from this anthology were Libba Bray's story about girl thieves who use a device to stop time so that they can rob trains, Kelly Link's tale of a girl who is bound to serve fairies and is only somewhat mollified by their mechanized trinket gifts, and Dylan Horrock's story about a girl from another world, trying to find herself in a flatter version of her own life. Each of these tales literally *sparkled* at me from off of the pages. *grins* The other tales were really well done, as well.

Reading this book felt like traveling the world in a dirigible with dashing young lads and lasses hanging off of the anchor ropes... *whoops, just had a Scott Westerfeld moment there, lol.* Anyway, though I didn't read it all in one go, each tale was enthralling in it's own way.