Note: this is one of the first reviews I ever wrote on goodreads, and it is in its original, unedited form. So it may sound a little "bizarre" but that's only because it's so unpolished. So anyway - enjoy! The Looking Glass Wars - Frank Beddor Genre: YA Speculative/Fairytale Retelling (with a major freaking twist) # of pages: 358 (pb) Publisher: Dial, Penguin The Looking Glass Wars is the first in a revisionist fantasy series that reimagines Lewis Carroll's classic, beloved (albeit weird and completely pointless) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The basic premise: Wonderland is a real fantasy realm, "Alice" is really Alyss of Hearts, heir to the throne of said Wonderland, and remember that obnoxious loud-mouthed harpy Queen of Hearts? Yeah, she's Alyss's evil Aunt Redd who wants to usurp the throne. And when poor Alyss tries to relate this frightening premise to Mr. Carroll, the moron goes and spouts off frivolities like chasing a rabbit down a rabbit hole! That's the general premise in a nutshell. - Beddor's series is REAL revisionist fun--original, quirky, and yet still reverent of the classic work. It's a tight rope to walk: you must be creative and original, and yet you can't stray too far away from the familiar story. Now granted, Frank's more of a visual guy. He's a producer, a movie man, so he's not exactly the most eloquent author out there. You just have to imagine everything you read as though you were watching it on a screen: instead of having him describe to you how characters act/look/feel, you have to imagine looking at the characters as if flesh-and-blood actors were giving a performance and you were likewise watching their gestures and listening to the tones in their voices. It's hard to explain, and this review may not make much sense, but that's my advice. - I like his characters, too. I've read a few reviews in which people assert that his characters are a bit one-dimensional and even cliched, and that's true to a certain extent. Beddor's attention to detail lies not in character profiles, or even in the written dialogue, but in the invention of the world he's created: in the images of Wonderland, in the technology and weapons found there. I would have liked a little more characterization and a little more explanation, like "why is this person doing this? Why does he/she behave this way?" but that's not his style, and he makes up for it in other areas. And the chief antagonist, Redd? she's just deliciously nasty! The first time I read the book, I thought she was way too over-the-top. And she is most definitely over-the-top, but now I realize it's one of the things I love about her! She's just so outrageous, it's FUN to read! And The Cat is brilliant, too. I always thought a cat whose face was contorted into a grin (Cheshire Cat, in other words) was just a freaky concept. And now that he's morphed into a top-notch assassin who smiles all the time? He's like a feline Joker. So to those who complain about the "butchering" of Lewis Carroll's classic children's story, I have to ask: "WHY SO SERIOUS?"
In a sentence: If you don't mind lots of action and somewhat simplistic characterization (think Incarceron, only without the confusion and nuance), this quick, exciting read will leave you breathless!
Hey everybody - I'm still here! I know everybody loves an active blog, and I'm definitely working on it. Just started first semester of my last year of college and it's going to be pretty crazy. Don't give up on me just yet - but I will try to post at least 1 book reviews a week. If you want more reviews a week, sadly I don't think I will be able to do that; as it is I'll probably barely be able to keep up by 1-a-week average. But please stick around and bear with me for a few days! If you're in school too, hope you're having a great week!
This week my blog will be 7 months old, which is hard to believe, and I've decided to put together a "performance" survey. If you haven't filled out the survey, please please PLEASE take like 2 minutes and fill this out. If you are a follower of this blog and/or if you visit it even semi-regularly, your opinions are greatly needed! I need to know if I should keep this site up and running.
The question for this week is: How many blogs do you follow? I actually follow quite a lot. When I say "hi, I'm a new follower!" I mean I'm a new follower - I've clicked the button and everything. :) Right now I'm following 144, but I'm off to check out more blogs so that number will go up, most definitely! I have a google reader, but I actually like to visit the blog so I can leave comments. Because you don't know that I've seen your post unless I comment, right? And vice versa. Of course I don't check every single blog every day, but I do the best I can, because I'm betting most of you don't work your butts off just for giggles!
If you're new to my blog, welcome! Please be sure to leave a link so I can check you out and follow too. But if you do follow, please try and check back, and I promise I'll do the same :)
**This is only a partial review. I will post a longer, more in-depth review in September when this title releases. For now, this is more of a preview review.
I absolutely adored the originality of The Replacement. A lot of time and effort went into creating this story, and that level of detail was very noticeable. I think the fact that this is the author's first published book is phenomenal. Brenna Yovanoff writes like she's been a published pro for years - she has a knack for making the foggy, chilly town of Gentry vaporize to life in your mind. Okay, so that sentence sounds weird, but whatever. The story's major strength was in its imagery and attention to detail. The eerie town of Gentry and the House of Mayhem under the slag heap were so detailed, so vividly imaginative, that it turned Replacement from a fun book to an edge-of-the-seat thrill ride.
The characters were also fleshed out very well and very creepily, I might add. The Morrigan and the "creatures" of her court were so hideously delightful, I know I'll never forget them. Coupled with the strong imagery, these strange characters seemed even stronger and more engrossing. I liked how they were portrayed, too. They weren't evil, and yet they were so creepy and so not-quite-right that you couldn't help but feel apprehensive. And though the story deals with 'changelings' I liked how The Replacement seemed to have its own original, tailor-made folklore. Never once did the word 'faerie' get attached to any of the characters, therefore I didn't feel like I was reading the same old story over and over. I'm almost positive you haven't read anything like this before.
And props to Brenna Yovanoff for doing what seems to perplex most (women) authors: create a male narrative that sounds authentic but is still likable. Guys usually either sound like girls, or they're TOO overboard on the so-called "guy" traits: vulgar, nasty and sex-obsessed. Mackie Doyle is one of the most endearing, likable and heroic guys I've seen in YA fiction in a loooooooong time. You could not find a better guy to root for in a story like this.
The Replacement is a highly imaginative, creepy-awesome thrill ride that you surely do not want to miss out on! Be advised, though, that this is a story that will probably be better suited for older teens. But keep your eyes and your ears alert for September 21, the day The Replacement releases into stores. Or you could always preorder it :)
Thank you so much to Razorbill for sending me this awesome ARC! I've been anxious to read The Replacement since I first blogged about it on March 5! Thank you again!
I'm really excited about this post! I have with me the awesome Kirby W who is about to be a freshman. I asked him to think about the best books he read in middle school and recommend 10 here on my blog. He's got 11 recommendations (I asked him to recommend 10, but I got 11) and it was really cool to hear the perspective of a 14-year-old (former) middle school reader. I may 'yea' or 'nay' a YA book, but I'm 21 years old and in college; what are the kids in actual target audience saying? So let me introduce Kirby the almost-freshman, and he's going to give his recommendations for the best YA books out there!
Just keep in mind that these are the thoughts of a 14-year-old dude: they have not been edited or altered!
1. The Looking Glass Wars, Frank Beddor
SERIES: followed by Seeing Redd, ArchEnemy Kirby says: This is probably my new favorite series. The last book came out last year. The take on Alice in Wonderland was awesome. I really liked the series villain, Queen Redd. She was evil and funny, which yeah is a weird combo, but she was really entertaining. And this story’s version of the white rabbit is pretty cool, too. I didn’t mind that the main character’s a girl, cause she’s cool and smart and not whiny like girls I know. And I liked the battle scenes. Battle scenes are cool.
2. The Warrior Heir, Cinda Williams Chima
SERIES: followed by The Wizard Heir, The Dragon Heir Kirby says: This was a really cool take on magic. The second book has more to do with magic and wizards and all that stuff, and the first one was more action-packed and battles and whatnot. I did like that even though the book was about magic and wizards and stuff like that, it didn't feel like I was reading the same story over and over. There were enough cool concepts. And the main character was likable, like he was a real kid. These were both quick reads: not too long and wordy. I get bored if books are too long. And hungry.
3. The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
SERIES: followed by Catching Fire, Mockingjay (not released)
Kirby says: BEST SERIES EVER! Better than Harry Potter! For real, Harry’s got that wand and all, but he wouldn’t make it five feet past that cornucopia. I’d like to see him “expelliarmus!” those Careers.I loved reading about that futuristic society, but it was kind of scary too, because I got the feeling that maybe this stuff could happen. Dude. Anyway, this series was cool. I don’t care about those “teams” though. That’s girl stuff. I totally think Peeta’s going to die.
4. The Maze Runner, James Dashner SERIES: followed by The Scorch Trials (not released), The Death Cure (not released)
Kirby says: Really awesome story idea. Most of my friends read this one too. I’d definitely recommend this to all the guys. Lots of action and suspense. The ending was a little weird, but the next book in the series is coming out soon. TMR reminded me of Percy Jackson for some reason – the characters were funny, cool, and easy to relate to, like the characters from that series. I’d definitely recommend TMR to any PJ fans.
5. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer
SERIES: followed by The Arctic Incident, The Eternity Code, The Opal Deception, The Lost Colony, The Time Paradox, The Atlantis Complex
Kirby says: One of my all-time favorite series. Elves here aren’t all old and naturey and all Lord of the Ringsy – they’re really advanced and high-tech. The cool story and many details made reading AF a fun experience. The rest of the books in the series are cool, too, and I’d recommend reading all of them. Plus it’s cool to have a main character like Artemis. He’s like a child-criminal genius, but he’s not like really bad or anything.
6. Skulduggery Pleasant, Derek Landy SERIES: followed by Playing with Fire, The Faceless Ones, Dark Days, Mortal Coin (not released)
Kirby says: Oh my freaking gosh this book is incredible. You MUST read this. Skulduggery is the awesomest character in fiction. He's a wizard, but a wizard with a twist: not old and not a schoolboy either. When I was reading the first book, I kept thinking of a comic book or a graphic novel for some reason. It just reads that way, which is really cool, cause it's visual in this graphic-novel sense. I don't know how many books will be in the series, but I will read every single one of them.
7. The Alchemyst, Michael Scott (not the boss from 'The Office')
SERIES: followed by The Magician, The Sorceress, The Necromancer, The Warlock (not published), The Enchantress (not published)
Kirby says: I like this book a lot, but it’s kind of advanced. Like, I probably would have understood it better if I’d been in high school. But I like history so it was really cool to have historical people and events blended together with fantasy magic. It was our school's Recommended Book of the Year a few years ago. I think grownups like it because they think all that historical stuff is educational. It is, but it's cool too.
8. Gone, Michael Grant SERIES: followed by Hunger, Lies, Plague (not published), Darkness (not published), Light (not published)
Kirby says: It sounds like a cheesy idea, right? All the adults are gone, and a bunch of kids and teenagers are left? Party time, right? Actually, Gone showed how crappy and horrible that situation would really be. I liked this book because it was interesting and fun, but also because it had this realistic feel to it too, like this is actually how kids would behave if something like this really happened. I liked how the author seemed to know about how kids really act and how they really feel. This is one of the best series I’ve ever read. It’s got lots of action, and I like action.
9. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone , JK Rowling
SERIES: followed by Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, The Goblet of Fire, The Order of the Phoenix, The Half Blood Prince, The Deathly Hallows Kirby says: I’m not even going to say anything. It’s Harry freaking Potter. Ya know.
10. The Lightning Thief, Rick Riordan
SERIES: followed by The Sea of Monsters, The Titan's Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, The Last Olympian Kirby says: Harry Potter may be a classic, but Percy Jackson's going to take over. I would definitely recommend the Percy Jackson series to everyone. Adults will like it, because they’ll get a kick out of the way the myths are incorporated into the story. And teachers will find Mr. D really funny, and probably a little autobiographical. Percy's pretty cool, Grover's hilarious, and Annabeth is hot.
11. Eragon, Christopher Paolini SERIES: Eldest, Brisingr, untitled 4th book (not released)
Kirby says: Dragons and swords and fighting and not a lot of that romance stuff. Really cool story and pretty exciting all the way through. I didn’t mind that it’s so freaking long. The rest of the books are cool, but the first is the best. Galbatorix is one of the best villains I've ever read.
As always, Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB @ Should be Reading. Here's how it works: Grab the current book you're reading- Open up to a random page- share a little "teaser" from somewhere on that page.***Make sure your section is spoiler free!! I finished this book last week, but just in the spirit of getting folks pumped for its 9/21 release, I'm going to do The Replacement for my teaser. This will be a little longer than usual teasers, but hey, it's to get you really hooked!
"What do you mean, 'need you'? I don't need anything." "Oh, darling," she said, smiling and reaching for my hand. "Don't be silly. Of course you need us. You're becoming so frail, and it's only going to get worse. This really is the best solution for all of us. You'll help me, and in return, I'll make sure you're supplied with all the remedies you need and you won't have to live out the rest of your days..in agony." I watched her, trying to see the reason behind why I was even here. "What do you want?" I said, sounding more nervous than I would have liked." - The Replacement, (ARC) page 108
I hope to have my non-spoiler review of The Replacement up by Thursday or Friday.
