Mind the gap.
Posted by Lungkisser in Uncategorized on November 6, 2011
Excuse us while we take a hiatus in November for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)! We’re trying to write 50,000 words each, which doesn’t leave a lot of time between work and school and other things for much else! We’ll be back in December with some fun posts, including comparing some popular books to their movie counterparts! See you December 2nd!
Don’t know what NaNoWriMo is? Start here: www.nanowrimo.org
Read: A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY, Not: CLOCKWORK ANGEL
Posted by avib333 in Young Adult on October 28, 2011
Not That: Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
Transgressions: Uninteresting characters, old hat plot
If you haven’t yet heard of YA writer Cassandra Clare, then you probably weren’t at all into Harry Potter fanfiction circa 2003. Suffice to say, from her dubious origins as writer of the Draco Trilogy (Draco Dormiens, et al), Clare has gained some serious acclaim for her Mortal Instruments series, joining the ranks of other big name YA Fantasists (Holly Black, et al). Insert whatever subtext/overtext you want about achieving your dreams, fanfiction being respectable/unacceptable, Weasleycest (Mary Sue, et al) or what have you–she’s managed to make a career out of profic, and that’s nothing to laugh at. I’d found the first Mortal Instruments cycle entertaining enough, so I decided to pick up Clockwork Angel because there just isn’t enough Victorian fantasy out there, and… heck, why not? Read the rest of this entry »
Read INVITATION TO THE GAME Not HEIR APPARENT
Posted by Lungkisser in Middle Grade, Young Readers on October 21, 2011
Not THAT: Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde
Transgressions: shoddy prose, lack of depth, weak lead
Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde is a sci-fi/fantasy story about a girl who visits a virtual reality arcade and becomes trapped in a looping fantasy RPG (ala Groundhogs Day). Read the rest of this entry »
Read UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING Not ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG
Not THAT: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Transgressions: Pretentiousness, Contemptible Characters
Written in 2006, The Elegance of the Hedgehog became something of a publishing phenomenon in its native France and was released in America two years later, attaining the status of New York Times Bestseller. The novel is split between two characters: Renee, the cantankerous and ugly concierge of a posh Parisian hotel; and Paloma, the twelve-year-old daughter of the hotel’s extremely wealthy fifth-floor tenants. The concierge hides the fact that she, in fact, reads and understands Marx, (such subversion!) while the twelve-year-old writes diary entries about everything from poetry to cats, titling them “Movements of the World.” Do you see where I’m going with this? Read the rest of this entry »
Read THE DIAMOND OF DARKHOLD Not THE PROPHET OF YONWOOD
Posted by Lungkisser in Middle Grade on October 7, 2011
Not THAT: The Prophet of Yonwood by Jeanne DuPrau
Required reading: The City of Ember and The People of Sparks
Transgressions: adds little to nothing to the plot,
easily the weakest book in the series
The Prophet of Yonwood is the third book in The Books of Ember series. It is a prequel describing the events 50 years before The City of Ember and what happened to Earth/America to get it where it is in the first book. Read the rest of this entry »
