Ever

Ever * Gail Carson Levine

2008 * p. 244 * YA Fantasy

"Falling in love is never easy, but falling in love with an immortal god while your days on earth are numbered is almost more than a young girl can bear.


Newbery Honor author Gail Carson Levine has created a stunning new world of flawed gods, unbreakable vows, and ancient omens in this spellbinding story of Kezi, a girl confronted with a terrible destiny. Attempting to thwart her fate, Kezi and her love, Olus -- the god of wind and loneliness -- embark on a series of dangerous and seemingly impossible quests."

Kezi, her family, and the whole town are devout worshippers of the god Admat. He is all and everything to them. When Kezi's mother becomes ill, her father makes a promise to Admat that if his wife is spared, he will sacrifice someone in honor of Admat. That someone ends up being Kezi.

The whole family is depressed, needless to say. Kezi has til the end of the month to live. If her father doesn't fulfill his oath, the whole town could perish.

Meanwhile, another god, Olus, has been watching. he likes humans and wishes he was one of them. He has become particularly attached to Kezi and her family. Risking exposure, Olus talks to Kezi and vows to save her. Together they will find Admat and plead for Kezi's life, or make Kezi immortal. Neither proves to be very easy.

I thought it was a great concept, but the writing seemed to lacking to me. Which is suprising since I'm a big Gail Carson Levine fan. Each new chapter switches perspectives--from Kezi to Olus and back again. The sequence of events seemed scattered. It feels more like an oral retelling of an ancient fairy tale. Interesting.

Really thats all I can say. Interesting.

But a good, simple, clean read for YA.

-Reading level: ages 12 & up
-Completely appropriate
-Themes of sacrifice, religion, devotion, obedience, love, courage

THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND: The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book One

The Amulet of Samarkand: The Bartimaeus Trilogy, Book One * Jonathan Stroud
2003 * p. 462 * YA Fantasy

The Amulet of Samarkand is written from the 1st person perspective of two characters: Bartimaeus, the anciently cheeky and mischievious demon, and Nathaniel, the revengeful apprentice wizard that has summoned him.

Nathaniel is apprentice to the ridiculous wizard Underwood. Underwood treats him as a burden, and fails to see the amazing potential that Nathaniel possesses to becoming a great wizard. And when Underwood also fails to stick up for Nathaniel against the attacks of the slimy Simon Lovelace, Nathaniel vows to seek revenge on both Lovelace and Underwood. To do so, he must go behind his master's back, dabble into wizardy levels he's too young to know, and summon a great and powerful demon to do his bidding.

Nathaniel summons Bartimaeus. And he is anything but willing. But since he has been summoned and put under an obedience charm, Bartimaeus follows the boy's commands and steals a powerful possession from Simon Lovelace: The Amulet of Samarkand.

But stealing the amulet puts a series of events into motion that Nathaniel did not anticipate.

I thought the book was far too long for what it needed to accomplish. I found myself struggling to just read a chapter each night. Not a good sign usually.

The saving grace of the book was Bartimaeus' witty and funny remarks to those around him and inside his head.

"The boy's mouth hung so low and loosely, a rodent could have used it as a swing"
(428).

Also, much of Bartimaeus' lines are given explanation in footnotes and they are pretty funny.

"1 In both senses. And I can tell you I've been in some sticky places in my time, but for sheer waxy unpleasantness, his earlobe would be hard to beat" (415).

To give the book credit, the last 80 or so pages were suspenseful and entertaining. However, my disappointment with the book on a whole does not have me running out to buy the 2nd and 3rd books.

-Reading level: ages 13 & up
-Completely appropriate
-A New York Times Bestseller
-Themes of revenge, trust, ambition, courage

A CURSE DARK AS GOLD

A Curse Dark as Gold * Elizabeth C. Bunce

2008 * p. 392 * YA Fantasy

A Curse Dark as Gold is a retelling and expanding of the classic Rumpelstilstkin fairy tale. The author, Bunce, says she wrote this book to clarify some of the confusing points of the fairy tale and give the miller's daughter more of an admirable and strong character. And Bunce does just that.

The miller's daughter, Charlotte Miller, is left to run the family mill when her father dies. The Millers are proud and stubborn. Charlotte and her younger sister, Rosie, are no different. Despite being women, they plan to run the mill alone.

Their efforts are not without extraordinarily bad luck and the constant rumors of the curse that has been on the mill and the Millers for generations.

"The Stirwaters Curse. I had grown up hearing those words every time something went the least bit awry. True, we Millers did tend to more than our share of bad luck--from the very first Miller of Shearing, old Harlan, who had built Stirwaters and this house. But down through the years of market collapses and roof collapses--which could happen to anybody--one dark thread bound the Millers apart from ordinary ill luck: No Miller had ever raised a son who lived to inherit Stirwaters. The mill had been handed down along a crazy zigzag path from brother to cousin to nephew...to daughter. Stirwaters could only be inherited by Millers, and Rosie and I were the only ones left" (23).

As unexplainable debts, deaths, vandalisms, etc occur and Charlotte fears she'll lose the mill, Rosie turns to faerie aid. Thus enters the character of "Rumpelstiltkin." Though he is never called by that name. Though this mysterious man may seem to be the answer to their prayers at the moment, the sisters soon find that making a bargain with a faerie brings nothing but trouble. So Charlotte Miller seeks to find the origins of the curse and how to break it before she loses the mill and her family.

I enjoyed this book, but I wouldnt necessarily categorize it as a fantasy. It seemed more like a historical supernatural mystery, if that makes sense. The details of mill life, fabrics and the coming of the industrial revolution are very complex, but easily understood. The writing was excellent. I was a little disappointed though that it was not more of a fantasy. But nevertheless, I highly recommend it.

-Reading level: ages 18 & up
-Morally appropriate for all ages
-High diction more suitable for seniors and above
-Themes of pride, judgement, communication and tradition
-Won the William C. Morris Debut Award by the ALA

WINGS

Wings * Aprilynne Pike

2009 * p. 290 * YA Fantasy

Laurel has been homeschooled all her life. When she and her parents move from their secluded forest property to a bigger town and Laurel must start public high school, she finds that she is different in more ways than one.

Laurel feels smothered in anything but shorts, tank tops and flip flops despite the cold. She eats only veggies, fruits and an occasional Sprite. Though these things aren't crazy out of the normal. Laurel soon finds that she is not normal.

What starts as an out of the norm "zit" on her back, turns into a softball-sized lump that eventually sprouts petal-like wings!!!!! Needless to say, she is freaked out. She turns to her new friend David from school, and together they keep her secret and piece by piece discover that Laurel is not human. She is a faerie!

What I thought was so nice about this book is that Pike took a relatively normal and genuine problem such as puberty, and gave it a twist: wings. It is the experience of having your body change and being freaked out. In that sense, I think every teenager can relate.

"A beam of sunlight shone down from a break in the trees above, making her silhouette stretch out on the grass in front of her. The outline of her shadow looked like an enormous butterfly with gauzy wings. And in the same strange way balloons cast shadows, the blackness had just a tinge of blue in it. She tried to make the wing-things move, but although she could feel them--feel every inch of them now, soaking in the rays of sunlight--she had no control over them. Something so life-shattering shouldn't be this beautiful" (50-1).

The book is suspenseful towards the end and I enjoyed it. It was definitely left open, hopefully, for a second book. There were a few parts that I thought were random and left a little unanswered/unresolved.

But I loved the love conflict between Laurel and the boys David and Tamani. I almost cried at the end. (I'm a sap for romance.)

Overall. I loved it. Especially, from the middle to the end.

-Reading level: ages 14 & up.

-A couple references to sex. (just the word.)

-Themes of puberty/change, devotion, being unique/special.

-A great mature fantasy for teens.

SUN AND MOON, ICE AND SNOW

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow

Jessica Day George

2008 * p. 317 * YA Fantasy

Pika is the ninth child of a very poor family. And a girl. So displeased was her mother that she had another worthless girl that she pretty much left her to fend herself, and didn't even give her a name. Pika simply means girl.

Though she doesn't have a name, she grows up with identity nonetheless, strong and caring. She is mostly attached to her kind eldest brother, Hans Peter. He returned from his travels after a few years, but now seems lifeless. And he is now a disappointment to their fortune-seeking mother. Pika knows something happened to Hans Peter, but he never speaks of it.

Pika's family live in The North where it is always winter and conditions are harsh. When a white reindeer, a magical creature that grants a wish to whoever captures it, is seen in the countryside everyone wants to find and capture it. Pika, more out of curiousity stumbles about the snow in Hans Peter's parka. She happens to find the magical white reindeer stuck in a prickly bush. She frees the white reindeer and is suprised to find that it can talk. Though Pika says a wish is not necessary, the reindeer grants her two remarkable gifts: a name, and the ability to talk to animals.

Her secret name becomes a source of courage and confidence for the Pika. Her ability to talk to animals also because crucial when an isbjorn comes to the village. An isbjorn is a large white polar bear. The isbjorn has the Pika come with him and live in his palace of ice for a year. After the year is over she can leave.

The Pika finds that the isbjorn is kind and nice to talk to. She is given beautiful dresses, elegant meals, and kind service. But things turn strange when servants start to disappear, a weird smell pervades the palace and a strange young man comes to sleep next to her every night in the dark:

"After her second night in the palace, the stranger was her constant bedfellow. The first two times the stranger climbed into bed with her, she climbed right out and slept on the divan, but the third time the lass tried this she was awakened by someone lifting her. Without a word the stranger carried her to the bed and tucked her in. Then the visitor walked around to the other side, got in, and went to sleep, back turned to her.

She knew it was a man, because on that third night, after he had carried her back to bed, she dared to reach over and touch him. She ran her fingers over his face: he had high cheekbones and a shapely nose. His hair was straight and very thick, worn long so that it brushed the collar of his nightshirt (and she was relieved to feel he had one)" (99).

The Pika soon learns that everything is not what it seems: the palace, her brother, the isbjorn, and her role in the bargain. Aided by magic and true love she seeks to free her isbjorn.

I enjoyed this retelling of the fairy tale The Polar Bear King. However, I thought that the isbjorn and Pika's relationship wasn't as developed as it should have been. It never moved past "the friendship stage" for me, and as events unfolded I found it felt shallow because of the lack of "love." Compared to George's Princess of the Midnight Ball, I thought this book was more silly (in a good way) than suspenseful. The descriptions are more ridiculous than scary and would be appropriate for a younger audience.

-Reading level: age 12 & up

-Ideal for young women

-I suggest watching the movie "The Polar Bear King" as a companion to the book if you want something a little more suspenseful and mature. It is excellent.

-Completely appropriate.

PRINCESS OF THE MIDNIGHT BALL

Princess of the Midnight Ball
Jessica Day George

2009 * p. 272 * YA Fantasy

After the war ends, 18-year-old Galen Werner heads for the kingdom of Westfalin. His family has all died in the midst of the war, but Galen has survived even though he was often on the front lines in the army. He hopes to find his mother's relatives and a place to stay.

Once they are found, he is surprised to learn that they hold a very prominent position as the King's gardeners. So Galen joins the family business. But there is more than gardening in Galen's future.

King Gregor has twelve daughters--all of them named after flowers, from Rose to Petunia. But something is amiss with these daughters. Every third morning their dancing slippers are worn to pieces and they are exhausted. Yet none of them can explain to their father how and why and with whom they are sneaking out to dance.

After meeting and becoming enamored with the eldest princess, Rose, Galen sneakily discovers that the princesses do not want to dance and are being forced by some immortal being underground who has forbidden them to share the secret.

When Rose falls deathly ill things turn for the worse:

"Death alone could free a soul from the Midnight Ball, as the girls knew all too well.

'There's nothing we can do,' Rose said, and a tear slipped out of the corner of her eye and ran down to wet her pillow. 'If I don't go, he'll be so angry.' She rolled onto her side and pulled the blankets over her head again.

...And then, at eleven o'clock, Lily and Jonquil helped Rose out of bed. They washed her face and applied rouge to her pale cheeks and lips... Then they helped her into the yellow dress and the new dancing slippers.

The eldest princess could barely walk. She was near delirious with fever and racked by coughing spells that left her breathless and teary-eyed. Lily and Jonquil had to support her all the way to the Midnight Ball'" (48-9).

Galen is more determined than ever to rescue Rose and her sisters from the Midnight Ball, and the shadows that dance there.

Princess of the Midnight Ball is a sweet fantasy filled with princesses, flowers, magic and innocent romance. It is a perfect book for the sentimental female who loves the world of heroic princes and beautiful princesses who live happily ever after. It was a refreshingly unpredictable retelling of the fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses.

-Reading level: age 12 & up
-Completely appropriate for all ages
-German names with pronunciation guide in the back
-Themes of bravery, kindness, trust, love and family
-Ideal for young women

Dealing with Dragons

Dealing with Dragons

Patricia C. Wrede


1990 * p. 212 * YA Fantasy


Dealing with Dragons follows the Princess Cimorene of Linderwall. Her six older sisters have all married a prince and lived happily ever after. Cimorene, however, is anything but a proper and typical princess. She does not want to marry prince. She wants to study economics, make cherries jubilee, learn magic, etc. But all of those things are not proper for a princess to do. Cimorene is fed up, and when her parents tell her they have betrothed her to a handsome but brainless prince, it's the last straw. After receiving advice from a talking frog, she heads out for more advice, and finds DRAGONS.

Cimorene is frightened at first, but then offers herself as a servant princess to the dragons. The dragons are taken aback by this request. Usually they have to steal a princess, but here Cimorene is offering herself freely and willingly. One dragon just wants to eat her. But Kazul, a respected female dragon, says she will take Cimorene.

Cimorene loves being Kazul's princess. She gets to cook all she wants, sort through treasure, and catalogue old and supernatural books. But not everything is perfect. Cimorene has to deal with sneaky wizards, traitor dragons, fire-coughing dragons, persnickety servant princesses, and annoying and persitent princes come to rescue her.

One day, a knight shouts into the cave where Kazul and Cimorene live. Cimorene goes out to tell him to go away and they have this conversation:

"'What can I do for you?' Cimorene asked after several moments had gone by and the knight still hadn't said anything.

"Well, um, if you are the Princess Cimorene, I've come to rescue you from the dragon,' the knight said.

Cimorene set the point of the broadsword on the ground and leaned on it as if it were a walking cane. 'I thought that might be it,' she said. 'But I'd rather not be rescued, thank you just the same.'

'Not be rescued?' The knight's puzzled look deepened. 'But princesses always--'

'No, they don't,' Cimorene said firmly, recognizing the beginning of a familiar argument. 'And even if I wanted to be rescued, you're going at it all wrong.'

'What?' said the knight, thoroughly taken aback.

'Shouting, 'Come out and fight,' the way you did. No self-respecting dragon is going to answer to a challenge like that. It sounds like a child's dare. Dragons are very conscious of their dignity, at least all the ones I've met so far are'" (25).

The conversation continues and its hilarious. Cimorene is outspoken but kind. She is strong and an individual. She knows who she is and what will make her happy in life.

Wrede's book is very humorous. She employs a lot of the classic fairy tale elements and lightly makes fun of them for their often ridiculous perfection. Some of them included are Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, etc. Cimorene is delightful and fun. The whole theme of the book is being happy with who you are and not letting anything or anyone hold you back, being an individual, and that beauty does not always equal intelligence or compassion.





-Reading level: grade 7 & up


-Appropriate for all ages.


-It was a fun, easy read that girls will most likely appreciate.

The Perilous Gard

The Perilous Gard Elizabeth Marie Pope
c. 1974 * p. 280 * YA Fantasy

The Perilous Gard is set in 1558 Elizabethan England. The author, Pope, studies Celtic and English traditions/legends/myths/folklore/ballads, and has weaved a delicious and myserious plot around the Celtic ballad "Tam Lin."

Kate Sutton and her sister, Alicia, are ladies in waiting to the Lady Elizabeth. The dramatic and ridiculous Alicia sends a complaint letter to the Queen Mary, and Kate is blamed for her sister's impertinence. You get the feeling that Kate is constantly being blamed for Alicia's blunders, because Kate takes it graciously and seems happy to get away from her. Kate's punishment is that she is exiled to the Perilous Gard, an antiquated Tudor castle far away owned by Sir Geoffrey Heron. Sir Geoffery is kind but must follow the Queen's orders to keep Kate almost on house arrest. She is not allowed to keep company and must stick to the castle grounds and the nearby adjoining village.

One morning Kate walks to the village. She plays with a littlle boy who has fallen next to her:

"There you're not hurt, " she said quickly. "Don't be afraid; it's only--" and suddenly realized that something was wrong. A redheaded woman drawing water at the well had straightened up and was staring at her. Everybody was staring. . . .

Kate stared back at them in bewilderment. The village was so far off the beaten road that she would not have been suprised to find the people shy of outsiders--silent, awkward, suspicious even--but she was entirely unprepared for the sort of fear and hatred that had swept over their faces when they saw her with the little boy. . . .

The next instant there was nobody left on the path except Kate herself and the priest, still standing his ground by the church porch. He was an old man, with a careworn, gentle look; but he held himself very straight, and his faded blue eyes met hers sternly, full of repudiation and horror. Then he raised his hand and made the sign of the cross on the air between them" (45).

Kate later meets the "redheaded woman" again, and learns that the village people believe the castle occupants are evil and in cahoots with the Fairy Folk: a group of magical pagan/heathens who live in the Hill by the castle and snatch little children for their human sacrifices. Kate does not pay attention to the superstitious gossip until she finds out that Sir Geoffery's daughter Cecily is missing. Geoffery thinks Cecily is dead because his brother Christopher did not watch her carefully and she fell into the Holy Well.

Christopher blames himself as well for Cecily's "death" and does not believe the tales about the Fairy Folk. But one day Kate and Christopher meet a loony minstrel who claims to have been taken by the Fairy Folk occasionally to play music for them. He shows them a tiny shoe he found while there. It is Cecily's shoe! Christopher runs off for the Holy Well planning to find and convince the Fairy Folk to let Cecily go and take him instead for the human sacrifice on All Hallow's Eve.

I loved this book. Pope does a wonderful job of producing an ancient aura to surround the legend. The book is classified as a fantasy but seems more suspenseful and mysterious than a typical fantasy. It is a perfect fantasy book for readers who do not particularly care for the genre and want something more serious.

-Completely appropriate for all readers

-Reading level: ages 14 & up (some diffiuclt vocab and style)

-Appeals to both young men and women

-Themes of self-confidence, bravery, determination & references to Christianity and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Ella Enchanted

Ella Enchanted Gail Carson Levine

c. 1997 * p.232 * Y.A. Fantasy

Ella Enchanted takes the classic tale of Cinderella and enlivens it with spunk, humor, and personality. At Ella's birth, a rather overzealous fairy named Lucinda blesses her with the gift obedience. From then on, she must do what she is commanded, whether she must do her chores, eat her entire birthday cake, or kill, Ella is powerless against the will of her "gift." When her mother suddenly dies, Ella is left to be cared for by many non-caring persons: her often-absent and greedy father, her voluptuous step-mother, and horse-faced and devious step-sisters. But Ella's tenacity keeps her fighting for her own free will as she searches for a way to relinquish Lucinda's gift.

Ella's adventurous and charming nature keeps you smiling for the entirety of the book as she challenges hungry ogres, tricks her evil-stepsisters, tracks fairies, slides down castle banisters, and falls for the dashing Prince Charmont. Levine incorporates the iconic elements of the Cinderella tale, such as glass slippers, a pumpkin coach, and the infamous ball, while breathing life into the surrounding plot and characters. It is a novel that I could read again and again, and has instantly become one of my favorites.

-Would be nicely paired with the classic tale as stepping stone to YAL
-An ideal princess book for girls
-Movie was heartbreakingly disappointing and entirely untrue to the book
-A fast and uncomplicated read

-Junior High Ages

-Levine has written many other novels that are classic princess tales with a twist:

Fairest with elements of “Sleeping Beauty”;
The Fairy's Return and Other Princess Tales, a four book collection that includes elements from fairytales like “Toads and Diamonds," "The Princess and the Pea," "Sleeping Beauty," "The Princess on the Glass Hill," "Puddocky," and "The Golden Goose";
The Two Princesses of Bamarre; The Wish; etc.

-I have read Fairest. Like Ella Enchanted it follows the quest of a female protagonist who must accept/discover her true identity and self-worth. In Fairest, the challenge is embracing your own beauty.