Hunter and the Grape by Eoin C. Macken

4 Stars

I do love Eoin Macken's writer's voice.  He has lovely turns of phrase and a thoughtful way of seeing things that verges on the poetic at times.  Which shouldn't suprise me, he does write poetry.
I loved Eoin' s first book, Kingdom of Scars, and was looking forward to reading this, his next offering.  Now these books are not in genres that I often, if ever, read.  Gonna be honest, I read the first one because I love Eoin on TV and was curious.  I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that the man could write!  And write well!

So, Hunter and the Grape.  I didn't love it as much as I loved Kingdom of Scars, I will admit.  This time, the hero is a little older - he's eighteen and his life just totally sucks.  He leaves home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, meets up with a girl and the adventure begins.  This book would make a terrific movie.  I found it reminiscent of My Own Private Idaho, Heathers, Beautiful Thing and What's Eating Gilbert Grape.

Reading this book made me wish I was 16 again.  Not because I want to live my life over or anything, but because then I could enjoy this book totally and fall in love with Cat/Hunter, the main character and wish I was Grape.  They're so screwed up, but not.  They get into so much trouble and then get out of it.  They can make $87 stretch FOREVER.

It's a beautifully written book.  I love Eoin's words.  This is YA literature, in my humble opinion.  :)

Lord of the White Hell (Book 1) by Ginn Hale

4 STARS

The Caledonian Series - Book 1

This is another book that I've had in the TBR pile for a while. What caught my attention first was the blurb:

Kiram Kir-Zaki may be considered a mechanist prodigy among his own people, but when he becomes the first Haldiim ever admitted to the prestigious Sagrada Academy, he is thrown into a world where power, superstition and swordplay outweigh even the most scholarly of achievements. 

But when the intimidation from his Cadeleonian classmates turns bloody, Kiram unexpectedly finds himself befriended by Javier Tornesal, the leader of a group of cardsharps, duelists and lotharios who call themselves Hellions. 

However Javier is a dangerous friend to have. Wielder of the White Hell and sole heir of a Dukedom, he is surrounded by rumors of forbidden seductions, murder and damnation. His enemies are many and any one of his secrets could not only end his life but Kiram's as well.

To be honest it was the second paragraph that caught me. Then, I saw a couple of positive recs for the author as a good fantasy author, so I picked it up. It really didn't register with me that it was probably considered a YA fantasy, which is a good thing because I tend to stay far, far away from YA books in general, reading only the rare fantasy novel in the genre. And that would have been sad because I ended up really enjoying the book, the world the author created and her wonderful characters.

I like the author's voice. I like the world she created and the people she populated it with and the story she's telling is intriguing. What is the white hell really? What is the malevolent force that's cursing Javier's family? What's really going on in the depths of Javier's cousin, Fedeles? How can Kiram help? How will his gift with mechanical things help? Lots and lots of questions, none of which were really answered in this book.

That's the only bad thing. This book is basically about setting up the story, meeting and getting to know two young men and their circle of friends and teachers. Establishing some kind of relationship between them and well... that's it. The cliffhanger is HORRID! I hate them at the best of times if I'm honest, but this one... Yes, it's the perfect end for Book One... but Book Two should be in the same damned book! It is an incredibly frustrateing ending - especially for someone like me who is trying to budget her reading $ and time/schedule. Had the cliffhanger been less... um... totally cliffhangerish, I would have given this one at least 4.5 stars if not 5.

But that being said, I will definitely pick up Book 2 and unless it's totally awful, will pick up other books by Ginn Hale.

Kingdom of Scars by Eoin Macken

5 STARS

A terrific novel reminiscent of Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies and Stand By Me. I will freely admit that I bought this book because it was written by Eoin Macken, a favourite actor that I wanted to support. I was prepared for it to stink, but you know what? It DEFINITELY DOES NOT stink!

The novel is set in the suburbs of Dublin and it FEELS like I imagine the 'burbs of Dublin should be -and really, it's not so different from any suburb, anywhere. The prose is rich and evocative, the dialogue clear and unique in my mind's ear and it's just an all-round feast of a read. Kingdom of Scars is Macken's first novel and I hope not his last. He has a talent and flair for writing that needs to be shared, and read by all ages. Macken remembers what it's like to be a teenage boy and shares with us all the uncertainty, bravado, hope and despair of being 15 years old with an artful hand.

I don't read many YA books any more - they don't hold my interest, but this one had me hooked from beginning to end. These kids are real. Flawed, imperfect, growing, dumb as posts and brilliant in the most surprising ways. I knew boys like all these boys here, hell, my own son fits in there somewhere. :) And I knew girls like the girls that make up part of the story, I was one of them way back when.

Treat yourself. Read this book.

An extra bonus is the interview with the author at the end of the book. Eoin Macken has talent, folks!

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

3.5 STARS

So the fantasy world has been abuzz about this book for the past few months and I was lucky enough to win a copy - a hardcover copy, no less - from My Bookish Ways. Katherine Addison is the pen name of an author I had previously read and enjoyed by the name of Sarah Monette, so I was sufficiently intrigued and at the same time reassured.

I haven't seen The Goblin Emperor referred to as YA book, but YA it is. I don't usually read YA, finding them a little to 'easy' and 'black & white' in their problem solving and outcomes and I did indeed get that feel here. It is definitely a good read though, despite my possible bias or antipathy towards YA in general.

I had one HUGE problem though, and it kept me from giving this book 4 stars or even 4.5.

Let me begin by saying that the worldbuilding was EXCELLENT. The blurb indicates that we are going to get steampunk elves and that sounded delightful to me. The steampunk elements, however, were somewhat sparse although very important. The airship that explodes and crashes, setting our story in motion, the bridge that is a very important point of contention, the pneumatic message system in the sprawling 'castle' of the emperor, this was about it but it was enough to give the tale a steampunkish flavour.

So, be that as it may, the thing that caused me trouble were the names! The character names, the family names, the faction names, the department names, the place names. I'm all for things being different to give the story a foreign air, but when I can't remember who is who and if they belong to that family or that clan or maybe that's just the name of their family estate and damn, I can't even tell if this is a woman or a man. I STILL can't recall the name of Maia's eventual betrothed! There is A Listing of Persons, Places, Things and Gods in the back of the book, but half the names or words that I looked up thinking they were names, weren't there. (Maybe it's easier for a Young Adult than an Old Lady like me.) At any rate, I don't like having to interrupt the flow of my reading to look up things like that.

But that being said, I enjoyed the tale of Maia and he became the emperor of The Elflands in name and then in fact. I liked his inner dialogue a lot and found it quite reasonable that a boy brought up as he was would be that thoughtful and reflective. I liked him. I also liked the people that surrounded him, his guards, his secretary, his valets and the friends he began to make along the way. (My favourite was Beshelar, the proper, stoic, soldierly half of Maia's first set of guards.)

Katherine's writing kept me turning the pages - just a bit more, just a bit more, just a bit more... you know how that goes. :) The mystery of who was behind the murder of Maia's father and brothers probably should have been obvious to me, but it wasn't. I can't say that I was surprised, but at the 'reveal' I was all head-nodding and "of coursing" under my breath. Oh, I also got a kick out of Maia's grandfather.

So it was a fun read. Interesting. Not as intricate as I was expecting (all the intricacy got used up in the naming conventions, I think!) but I enjoyed it.

Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

4 STARS

Starcatchers - Book 1

If I was still an 11 year old girl, this series of books would become definite Must Reads! A prequel to the Peter Pan story of J.M. Barrie's that we all know, the authors have done a wonderful job of setting up all the classic characters, plot devices, and backstory. How DID Peter become Peter Pan? It's all here. Peter, the lost boys, Captain Hook and Smee, the mermaids, the Indians, the Croc, and TINKERBELL! And new characters as well. It's a riotous rumble of a read. I would highly recommend this book to all young people, boy or girl and to adults, like me, who are intrigued by the idea of knowing how Peter came to be Pan.