Prophecy of the Stones--Flavia Bujor

Three young girls find out on their 14th birthdays that they are crucial to the battle between good and evil in the magical land of Fairytale. Although they are supposed to be enemies, traveling together and facing danger brings them closer and makes them friends. At the same time a young girl in present day Paris lies in a hospital bed withering away, dreaming of Fairytale and the three girls.

The writing is clunky. The dialogue is clunky. It's just not well-written. The author tells instead of shows. The character development happens too quickly. She would have been better off separating the story into a trilogy or at least 2 books, taking more time to show the development and the plot, instead of telling us "Now they are friends." And the parts with the girl in the hospital are just dumb. They don't relate to the story well at all.

I don't care if the author was only 13 when she wrote this. A book should stand on its own--either it's good or it's not and this one just isn't.

Reading: I'll probably start Messenger--Lois Lowry tonight.
On My Nightstand: Lots of Pregnancy and Yoga books, and Pregnancy and Working books that I haven't opened yet. And I still have that darn Sarah Dessen book.

Whale Talk--Chris Lynch

Our last teen book group discussed Whale Talk by Chris Lynch the other night. While I did like the book, we agreed that it seemed a little unrealistic. The way things all fit together seemed a bit contrived, and I just couldn't get past the fact that the social worker would place a little girl in a home knowing that the father had a history of violence with the people in that home. I know that the girl needed to see another mixed-race person, and it was good for TJ, but I just don't think that would happen in real life.

I enjoyed the sports part of the book, but like most of Lynch's work, the sports is just a backdrop to the bigger story. He is effective that way--keeping readers interested who may not be interested otherwise. I liked TJ as a character, and I liked his relationship with his parents. The ending was somewhat of a shock to me. I wasn't expecting or anticipating it. Which I suppose is good writing.

I have loads of pregnancy books to read and Top Shelf books as well, so that's what I'll be concentrating on next. I don't have another book group until January (!), so it looks like it's Top Shelf reading for me. I'm on hiatus from reviewing for VOYA until both Top Shelf and my pregnancy is over. I doubt I'll have much time for fun reading. Unless Coping with Pregnancy and Working is considered fun...

Just Finished Reading: Whale Talk--Chris Lynch
Reading:
On My Nightstand: Prophecy of the Stones--Flavia Bujor; Loads of pregnancy crap.

East--Edith Pattou

It's so nice to be reading good books instead of crappy books. It's not often that I read multiple good books in a row! Yay!

Anyway--

East is a retelling of a classic fairy tale called East of the Sun, West of the Moon. It's a little bit like Beauty and the Beast--a man has been transformed into a White Bear and a human girl eventually falls in love with him. But it's so much more than Beauty. There's an evil Troll Queen who isn't really evil, she's just misguided. She really does love this man and the rest of her misdeeds are shared by her entire race, so it's not like she stands out in her evilness. The trolls steal humans to be slaves and drug them with a powerful drink to be submissive. They treat them like animals. But they all do it, not just the Queen. She fell in love with a softskin (human) boy, and took him without her father's consent and her father freaked out and transformed him into the bear. She could only have him if certain conditions were met. She went of her way to make sure these conditions would be met, meddling in the affairs of the softskins, and nearly succeeded. But Rose, the beauty in this story, turned out to be a lot more resourceful than the Queen bargained for.

Of course there's a happy ending, it's based on a fairy tale, but I don't want to give too much away. The story is captivating. I had to finish it one night--reading way past my bedtime because I just couldn't put it down. There's adventure, love, trickery, fantasy. It's just great. Rose is not a typical "damsel in distress." She's tough and strong and capable of taking care of herself.

The story is told through multiple viewpoints--Rose's, her father, her brother, the White Bear, and the Troll Queen. This is effective--although the Troll Queen is the bad guy--you can see that she really does love the White Bear/Man, she just doesn't know how to show it without drugging and brainwashing him. None of the characters are perfect, they all have flaws and do something that they shouldn't that has far-reaching consequences for everyone else. But that's okay, because they seem more human that way. The author did a good job.

Just Finished Reading: East--Pattou
Reading: Hmmm.....
On My Nightstand: Whale Talk--Lynch; Truth About Forever--Dessen

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Sign of the Qin (Outlaws of Moonshadow Marsh 1)--L.G. Bass

What a great book. I hope we don't have to wait long for the next one!

Prince Zong is born on a miraculous night, heir to his Emperor father's throne but is denied his position because of a curious birthmark on his face--the Sign of the Qin (pronounced Ch'in), the mark of the outlaw. Seeing the birthmark enrages his father. Emperor Han blames his wife and banishes her from the Forbidden City. He refuses to acknowledge his son as Prince and Heir, instead plotting to kill the child. But the child is not ordinary, he is a Starlord, a direct descendant of the first Starlord, Emperor Hung Wu, and is prophecied to change the world. He grows miraculously fast, able to walk within a month, and although he cannot speak, he does understand all that happens around him. With his monkey guardian he flees his murderous father and leaves the Forbidden City to learn the ancient art of Kung Fu.

While this is going on, the outlaw brothers White Streak and Black Whirlwind, leaders of the Sign of the Qin, are battling their own demons, there are demons and immortals, good and bad, and they all have a part to play in the upcoming battle.

There's so much in this first novel, so many characters and so much going on, but it's not confusing. I can't wait to find out what happens to the young Starlord and his monkey guardian! There aren't many YA books based on Chinese legends; it's refreshing to see a story that's not Eurocentric. This will definitely be popular, particularly with boys.


Just Finished Reading: Sign of the Qin--L.G. Bass
Reading: Dunno yet
On My Nightstand: Tons

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