the FAERIE post: reflections on my experiece with faerie fiction in YA

Never say never. Two summers ago I read two books back-to-back that were very similar to each other: Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr and Tithe by Holly Black. I haven't read any other faerie stories since; actually, after I finished Tithe, I vowed I would never, ever read about faeries again. I'm not much for histrionics, so I meat it...then.

It's my observation that YA books with "supernatural" characters: werewolves, vampires, faeries, etc., can easily fall into stereotypes. Now I have heard that the Twilight series' take on vampires is different from other authors out there, and one friend in particular is a fan of the Vampire Academy series because she says that the series has a much more creative take on vampires. I don't know - Twilight series is the only vampire series I've read (unless you count The Mortal Instruments, which I don't really) but when it comes to faeries, there doesn't seem to be a lot of variety. What Holly Black and Melissa Marr seemed to tell me through their stories is that
1) faeries are amoral
2) faeries are screwballs with not much of a conscience (which fits the "amoral" #1) and
3) they have a thing for a typical, modern, rather-ordinary human girl. Why?

The modern girl usually always turns out to be some kind of long-lost faerie relation, but that predictability is one that I don't mind so much. After all, fairy tales are pretty predictable, too, but the main thing I didn't like about those two books was how dark and edgy they were. It didn't work for me: instead of suspense, I felt like I reading a faerie-version of "The O.C." Melodrama to the extreme! And disgusting love interests, too. Actually now, I didn't really mind Roiben that much, but Marr...well, I've talked about her already. But what really bothered me the most was the thought that this is what faerie fiction is. Instead of tricksters and mischievous characters, we get practically-nihilistic characters that would give Nietzsche something to smile about. The reason I pick on faeries and not vampires or werewolves is not only because I've read more faerie work, but also because I write on faeries. I think the characterizations employed by Tolkien for his elves (elves and faeries being culturally synonymous) is much more practical.
Or take a page from Shakespeare - his fairies are lovable tricksters.

Anyway, curiosity has gotten the better of me, and I am rather looking forward to reading these two books:

I've heard that they're different from Black and Marr's works, but I don't know exactly. Are they different in tone/story, or are they like the others? I've also been told that The Iron King is similar (a bit) to Labyrinth, one of my absolute favorite films. That's a plus!

Faerie fiction is obviously very popular nowadays. Any suggestions of books/series other than these 4?

Reading Stats

Books Completed
The Shadow Hunt - Katherine Langrish
Perchance to Dream - Lisa Mantchev

Books Reviewed
The Shadow Hunt
Perchance to Dream
Wildwood Dancing

Notable Posts
Interview with author Katherine Langrish
How It All Ends

Currently Reading...

The Iron King - Julie Kagawa

Up Next...
The Spook's Nightmare - Joseph Delaney
The Golden Spiral - Lisa Mangum
The Iron Daughter - Julie Kagawa

And introducing my new affiliate....Christina T from Reading Extensively!

Christina's books read
Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran
For Keeps by Natasha Friend
My Invisible Boyfriend by Susie Day
The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg
Sophomore Switch by Abby McDonald

Her reviews
The Devlin Diary by Christi Phillips
Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs
Sophomore Switch by Abby McDonald

Have a great reading week!

IMM & The BOOKSHELF Post!

This week I got 2 books in the mail - not too shabby!

Between Two Kingdoms - Joe Boyd (thank you Christina @ Reading Extensively for this book!)
Perchance to Dream - Lisa Mantchev

And I did this awhile ago, but my roomies and I just moved into a new house, so I have a new room and new bookshelves!






:D

Review - PERCHANCE TO DREAM

Perchance to Dream - Lisa Mantchev
Genre: YA Speculative Fiction/Fantasy
# of pages: 333 (hb)
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends, Macmillan
Recommended for: 13/14 up (perfect for 8th grade and beyond, not for content, but just reader maturity in general)

Quick Take: Perchance to Dream follows in the proud tradition of its predecessor, Eyes Like Stars, in bringing action, romance, humor, and everything in between! If you loved Eyes, my guess is that you will devour this next installment as well!

On the Plot: This story goes in a different direction from its predecessor: instead of the entire setting being within the Theatre, Bertie and Company take their show on the road; therefore there’s more action driving Perchance, and it gave me an exhilarated, adventuresome feeling as I was reading. Eyes, in my opinion, was more "clever" with its references to various plays and characters, whereas in Perchance, action propels the plot to a faster pace than in the first book, if that makes sense. Clever references of some of the Bard's more well-known play quotes were woven into the story, and Shakespearean fans will just be delighted - I sure was!

The romantic angle is more pronounced in Perchance, but it never took center stage, so if you're wary of love triangle stories (like me), you'll have no problem loving this installment. I have to say, though, that while I liked Nate and Ariel equally in Eyes, at the end of Perchance, I am now Team Ariel! I don’t fully trust him yet, and I’m sure there will be more revelations about him in Untitled Book Three (most of Perchance seemed to emphasize the search for Nate, and what he was going through), so I can’t wait to for more Ariel!

On the characters: I said this in Eyes, so forgive me if I sound redundant, but I really, really like Bertie! I just seem to identify with her, somehow, and so it was really nice to read about a character that I actually cared about! Sometimes, though, I wished she didn’t have to be quite so bossy, but she's someone I could relate to and she goes through a lot of the course of the story. I guess what I liked best about Bertie is her unwavering concentration: stuff gets thrown at her from all angles, and yet she never strays from her goal (in this case, to rescue Nate from the malicious Sea Goddess’ lair). Joining her on her journey are the hyper, food-frenzied Midsummer faeries! I love these little guys! Oh, and you too, Pease! These loveable sidekicks were hysterical and adorable from start-to-finish, and I just wish I had four little faerie pals, too!

As always, I remain a big, GUSHING fan of Mantchev’s clever, witty writing style. She has an amazing talent for taking Shakespearean quotes and scenarios and weaving them seamlessly into her narrative – I even underlined all the references I saw.
A very well done sequel! Can’t wait for Untitled Book Three!

Final Rating:

My interview with Katherine Langrish, PLUS GIVEAWAY!

Katherine Langrish, the highly talented author of the Troll Trilogy and her newest novel, The Shadow Hunt (releases 6/1 in the US; currently on sale in the UK as Dark Angels) was kind enough to stop by IIF and answer a few questions!

How would you describe SHADOW HUNT in 4 words?

Children’s Celtic-Medieval fantasy

How much research goes into your stories, and how do you conduct your research?

A lot! Months of research goes into each of my books. For me the world of the story is as important as the characters. I end up with huge files of notes, but I love doing it. ‘The Shadow Hunt’ is set specifically in the late 12^th century, a few years after the Third Crusade. Not only the physical world – the clothes, the castles, the social system – but even the legends I use, such as the possibility of your dead relatives not being really dead but spirited away by the elves to some underground kingdom – were researched from accounts of the time, by writers such as Gerald of Wales (a Welsh-Norman cleric) and Walter Map (one of King Henry II’s courtiers). So all the things my characters believe in – including of course their medieval Catholic beliefs about God, the saints, and the arrangement of the universe – are correct for the period. I remember thinking, ‘Wow - the medieval model of the Universe (with the Earth in the centre, and the Sun and all the planets going around it set in perfect crystalline spheres) is so grand and beautiful! All right, so nowadays we know it’s not correct – but what a marvellous setting for a fantasy.’ The internet is an excellent resource so long as you are cautious about checking the sources. I also read almost nothing but medieval history and medieval literature during the two years I was writing this book, so I was submerged in the 12th century world. Plus I read up about wolves, about feral children, and about the medical conditions that might have led medieval people to suppose a child might be a changeling. Living in Britain, I’m lucky to be able to visit the places I was writing about. The dramatic hill country of the Welsh borders which is the setting for The Shadow Hunt is a few hours away from where I live. With my ever-patient husband, I clambered around old castles, met wolves in a wolf sanctuary, and squeezed down the dark, dripping and highly uncomfortable passages of an abandoned Roman copper mine… all for the good of the book.

What typically comes first for you – the character or the plot?

Characters come before plot. And even before characters, what come first are images – strong pictorial flashes of vision that set the ‘feeling’ for the book. In the case of The Shadow Hunt I began with a picture in my mind of enormous fiery angels walking through a cornfield and setting the corn alight. And another picture of a boy on a hill at night, watching a shower of shooting stars. Though neither image made it into the final book – at least, not unchanged – I began to get that shiver down the spine that tells you you’re on to something. Angels and cornfields suggested a medieval setting. The boy on the hill – who was he? Why was he there? Could he be a shepherd? Or was he running away from something? And gradually I began to explore the world I was visualising. Plot is important, of course. It goes without saying that something has to happen. But I need characters I really care about first.

For you, what is the most challenging part of the writing process?

You know, in the fairytales, when the princess has to climb the glass mountain? That’s the way it feels when I start writing a new book. There’s this ghostly, glassy, perfect pinnacle rising up and up ahead – and boy does it look hard and high to climb! Maybe one of the most difficult things is getting the beginning right. The first few pages of Chapter One of ‘The Shadow Hunt’ went through over thirty different versions before I was satisfied.

How would you finish this sentence: A successful author is someone who…

A successful author is someone whose books you want to re-read.

Any new projects you can share with us?

I’m about to begin taking the first few slippery steps up the glass mountain. My next book (or two: this may well spill over into a duet or a trilogy) will have a very different kind of setting: a cityscape a couple of hundred years into the future. I have some strong characters I’m getting to know, and there’ll be mythical and folklore references. I’m very, very excited about it.

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

Yes – take the time to think. Thinking is just as much part of creating a novel as actually setting the words down. Don’t feel pressured to start too early, and don’t feel guilty if you’re not hammering out those two thousand words a day. (Me? I sometimes don’t write more than fifty. Or I end up with fewer words at the end of the day, because I’ve been cutting and unpicking.) Often, if you get stuck, it’s a sign that you’re veering off course with the book – maybe trying to force a character to do something they wouldn’t. Give yourself time out. Go off and do something different and let your subconscious mind come up with the answers.

What Young Adult novels would you recommend to readers?

There are so many amazing books to choose from! But if I had to pick just two, Susan Price’s The Sterkarm Handshake and A Sterkarm Kiss are amazing YA novels. The premise is that a time-travel ‘Tube’ has been invented which takes researchers back into the wild Scottish borders of the 16^th century – where the men and women of the Sterkarm clan take the oddly clothed, strange-spoken 21^st century intruders to be elves from Elfland. The scientists, whose agenda is exploitative, make the serious misjudgement of assuming the rough, uneducated Sterkarms to be naïve and stupid. The Sterkarms, however, are nobody’s fools - and casual violence is their way of life…. Beautifully written, witty, thought provoking – these books let you see both the 16^th and the 21^st centuries from twin perspectives. Susan Price is a past winner of the Carnegie Medal; she won the Guardian award for the first book in this series, and is currently working on the third.

And I can't resist a travel question! Where are a few places in England that you would recommend to visitors - places that may not be as well known to travelers?

I come from the Yorkshire Dales in the north of England, and think it’s one of the most beautiful places on the planet – if you like moors, and hills, and old houses, try visiting the Dales around the old market town of Skipton. There’s a beautiful old castle, a Roman road leading over the moors, a bustling market, and the town is surrounded by wonderful places to walk.

Or you could visit Ludlow on the Welsh Marches, in Shropshire. It’s an utterly beautiful old town with lots of half-timbered Tudor houses; the castle is where Henry the Eighth’s older brother Prince Arthur lived with his wife Catherine of Aragon - before his early death at the age of fifteen. It’s also the place where John Milton’s magical play ‘Comus’ was first produced as a courtly masque. And it has some of the best restaurants in the country!

A huge thank-you to author Katherine Langrish for agreeing to do an interview with me. And now I'm very excited to announce a giveaway! The awesome folks at Harper Collins sent me an extra ARC of The Shadow Hunt, and I'll be giving it away to one lucky winner!

Entries will be simple this time: leave a comment with your email address, so I can contact you if you win. Note: if you commented on my review of Shadow Hunt, you get a bonus entry! However, you had to have commented BEFORE this post :) A winner will be announced on June 1, the day Shadow Hunt releases! Make sure to add this amazing book to your TBR! Click here for more info.

NOTE: If you live in the UK, this title is already available under the title DARK ANGELS :)

How it all ENDS

Authors have the opportunity to take us on breathtaking, extraordinary adventures: adventures to faraway and exotic lands, or perhaps adventures to a familiar location, like high school or the big city. When a single story is told over the course of a series, it can be especially hard to let the characters go, and we as readers come to seek not only closure, but the best possible ending to whatever dilemma the characters faced.
I personally seek out the "happily ever after" in stories and I dare to hope that it will be within reach for characters I have come to know and love. I look for a believable-but-creative solution to story conflicts, and I am particularly partial to battle scenes, the more epic the better!

So in yet another really random post, I want to take a look at my personal favorite (and least favorite) book/series finales.
Note: these categories, and my commentary, reflect my personal opinions. It is not my purpose to divulge information about the plot, and so hopefully there won't be any "spoiler" issues :)

Disappointing Endings

Sorry, Incarceron lovers, but this highly-anticipated sequel had a very funky, disjointed ending. Incarceron and Sapphique are both stories of epic proportions, and so the final resolution was a major letdown, in addition to being unrealistic for the problem at hand. The more screwed up and dysfunctional a society is, the greater the resolution has to be, and it seems as though Fisher cops for an easy fix ending. Also, characterization was never her strong suit, and so all throughout the book characters do things that are completely detached/unrealistic/emotionless.

I don't really remember much of the specifics to the book story (because I read it a long time ago and because I mostly think of the AWESOME musical version, which has an amazing ending) but it just seemed really 'bummer.' Wicked read like an Oz-retelling soap opera, and while I admit that I was way too young to read this when I did, the ending just made me depressed. I pronounce this book ending Depressing! But that's not so bad, because Wicked the Musical pretty much took the "bummer" out of the book and presented a much more uplifting ending. Yay, Broadway!

Maybe it's not fair of me to put this book on here, because truth be told, I hated everything about this book, and I am not exaggerating. The whole "conflict" in the first place was just unbelievable to me (we have to save everybody from the Winter Queen, because she's evil and wants to kill all the humans and the summer faeries!) The summer faeries and their king, Keenan (whose licentiousness would have the Earl of Wilmot blushing) induced no sympathy from me, and Wicked Lovely remains one of the few books where I actually rooted for the villain. Anyway, the "compromise" or whatever was just so stupid and "out there" that I just have to put it in the Disappointing Endings section. Now, WL is the first in a series, and the purpose of this list is really to asses the ending of a series, but there is absolutely no way I'd read any more of Marr's books. Just thinking about her books makes me want to sanitize my hands.

Wow I'm a roll, because I'm attacking two fan-favorite books with this list. Here's another "first book" that makes my Disappointing Endings section. Now I actually liked this book (for what it is) but the last 1/3 of this book went from Hush Hush to Rush Rush. The plot accelerated at a crazy-fast pace and the ending sequences just seemed sloppy. And the whole "I'm going to be your guardian angel, heeheehoohoo!" was a little on the stupid, sappy side. But I am eager to see what will happen next when Crescendo hits shelves.

So-So Endings (the "meh, whatever!" reading experiences)

Okay, it's really easy to turn anything Twilight geared into a long, rambling post, so all I will say is that I concur with the vast amount of reviewers who were sorely underwhelmed by the battle-that-never-happened. Like I said, I love epic battle scenes and so I was kind of disappointed when the Volturi just sauntered off and left everybody sighing with relief. However, the love that began in Twilight was realized and fulfilled by the end of Breaking Dawn, and that counted a lot for me. I applaud Stephenie for having her characters get their happy ending. I found it rewarding and not in the least bit sappy that Edward and Bella ended up married and getting their HEA. I just would have liked a little more action.

This series (the Great Tree of Avalon) is one of my favorites, and it is highly recommended! The reason The Eternal Flame is in this category is because the series resolution was great, but too prematurely put to rest. As in, I turned the page, and there was nothing left to read. So while I liked the ending (there was a great battle scene, the evil forces were expelled, and a really interesting "twist" was put before the characters) it ended a little too abruptly. Ohh, if Barron had only written like two or three pages more!

City of Glass was a riveting, action-packed story (for the most part) but the ending was a little too easily accomplished. Cassandra Clare had some awesome fight scenes and pretty scary/gory imagery to keep readers on the edge of their seat. With all the tension and conflict in Glass, the ending seemed a little too picture-perfect. Like, in no time at all after this major battle, everyone's celebrating. I don't really know what to say, except that the ending almost seemed flippant in light of all the intensity that had previously taken place.

And now...the BEST ENDINGS EVER!

All of the books I've chosen to put on this list can be described in one general word: EPIC. They all have epic battle scenes, they all have one-on-one confrontations between good and evil, they all have successful love stories, and they all have fulfilled, happy endings. Not just the "and then we continued blissfully into this small but perfect piece of our forever!" endings, but truly beautiful, tear-jerker, genuinely-rewarding endings. All of these books made me cry, and all of these series are my absolute favorites. It's probably no surprise that Return of the King is on the list--Lord of the Rings is (in my opinion) the greatest, most epic fantasy series of all time, and Tolkien knew exactly how to end his incredible story. All his battle scenes were magnificently described, the final confrontation on Mount Doom with Frodo and Gollum, and the business with the elves---all hauntingly beautiful and satisfying. Tolkien is the master!

Special mention to Deathly Hallows for providing probably the greatest "recent" series ending.
I am very much a fan of Rowling's awesome Epilogue, and wished that every author provided closure of this kind. Not only do readers take a journey with Harry Potter, they watch him grow up and mature, and so it's so delightful for authors to give readers assurance that he's alright after all. Bravo!

And The High King is tied with Deathly Hallows for all-time favorite ending, just because of the lyrical, almost haunting final words that author Alexander gives to readers before they say goodbye to the characters. No, there's no epilogue, nor is there closure on a Harry Potter scale, but these words (in my opinion) have never been topped:

(Not a spoiler)
Yet long afterward, when all had passed away into distant memory, there were many who wondered whether...Taran...Eilonwy, and their companions had indeed walked the earth, or whether they had neen no more than dreams in a tale set down to beguile children. And, in time, only the bards knew the truth of it.

I don't know, but that just gives me the good shivers every time. So anyway, that's my list! What do you think? Do you agree or disagree? What books would you put on your list of Favorite Endings?

Wanted: 2 affiliates!

I currently am affiliated with two absolute lovelies - Jami @ YA Addict and Aly @ Fantasy4Eva, and am looking for 2 more!

What being an affiliate would mean:

• I will add your blog button and your blog list to my Affiliates sidebar
  
• If I read/review a book you've reviewed, I will include a link to your review
• When I run my weekly recap, I will include a recap of your week, too (books you've reviewed, notable posts, etc)
• I will help promote any book-discussion posts or anything else you'd like me to help you promote
• I will promote your contests/giveaways and interviews on my site

Prerequisites:

• IIF is an MG/YA book review blog, and so I'm looking for other blogs that are primarily YA also
• Please note that I do want you to do these things for my blog, also, just to keep things fair :)
• I'll consider blogs of any size, but I do want to see that you make regular posts... if you drop off the radar I might have to remove you
  

If there's anything you'd like me to do that I haven't thought of, let me know!

So are you interested? Leave a comment!