Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol (2011)

Anya is a Russian immigrant who has spent years assimilating – wearing the right clothing, concealing her accent, and basically blending so she isn’t teased. Lately, she has become obsessed with slimming down in the hopes of attracting an American boy - the school’s star basketball player to be exact.

She dodges Dima, a short, intellectual Russian immigrant who is bullied at school, and skips gym class tests to avoid embarrassment. When she falls down a well, she meets Emily, a ghost. Emily claims to have been murdered and the two strike up a friendship. But when Anya investigates, she finds Emily is not who she claims to be.

This was a quick, easy read. Graphic Novels are not my genre of choice but this was easy to follow. Panels weren’t cluttered and the story moved along quickly. It wasn’t the most original tale but because I haven’t read many graphic novels, I’m not sure how it compares. The following reviews are glowing:

Good Books and Good Wine
LA Times
Mother Daughter Book Club
NY Times
Opps… Wrong Cookie
Stacked Books

Lirbary copy |  June 7, 2011| First Second | 224 pages | ISBN 978-1596437135 | $19.99

A Song of Ice and Fire: A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin (2011)

“I am not blind, nor deaf. I know that you believe me weak, frightened, feeble. Your father knew me better. Oberyn was ever the viper. Deadly, dangerous, unpredictable. No man dared tread on him. I was the grass. Pleasant, complaisant, sweet-smelling, swaying with every breeze. Who fears to walk upon the grass? But it is the grass that hides the viper from his enemies and shelters him until he strikes. Your father and I worked more closely than you know… but he is gone. The question is, can I trust his daughters to serve me in his place (p 510)?”

If there is one unifying theme for this fifth book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, it would appear to be a race to the dragons (both the creatures and the woman).

This post is full of spoilers… but I need some way to remind myself because it could be a long wait for The Winds of Winter.

At the conclusion A Storm of Swords, Jaime Lannister freed his brother Tyrion to spare him their sister Cersei’s wrath. In A Dance with Dragons we learn Tyrion, with aid from the spider Varys, was stowed away on a ship bound for Pentos and delivered to Illyrio, the wealthy Magister who once hosted Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen. Illyrio (nicknamed the cheesemonger by Tyrion) and Varys have long-standing ties with hopes to restore the Iron Throne to the Targaryens. As Tryion makes his way to Daenerys in Meereen, he uncovers the identity of Illyrio’s men. Young Griff is the supposedly dead Aegon Targaryen, son of Prince Rhaegar, secreted away by Varys the day Robert, the Usurper, overthrew the Targaryens and slaughtered most of the family. His protector and faux-father, Griff, is actually Lord Connington. During a game of cyvasse, Tyrion baits the young Targaryen successfully:

“If I were you? I would go west instead of east. Land in Dorne and raise my banners. The Seven Kingdoms will never be more ripe for conquest than they are right now. A boy king sits the Iron Throne. The north is in chaos, the riverlands a devastation, a rebel holds Storm’s End and Dragonstone. When winter comes, the realm will starve. And who remains to deal with all of this, who rules the little king who rules the seven realms? Why, my own sweet sister. There is no one else. My brother, Jaime, thirsts for battle, not for power. He’s run from every chance he’s had to rule. My uncle Kevan will never reach for it. The gods shaped him to be a follower, not a leader.” Well, the gods and my lord father. “Mace Tyrell would grasp the sceptre gladly, but mine own kin are not like to step aside and give it to him. And everyone hates Stannis. Who does that leave? Why, only Cersei” (p 281).

While at a whore house, Tyrion is recognized and captured by Ser Jorah Mormont who means to gift the imp to Daenerys in Meereen. Their ship is wrecked, however, and the two – along with a female dwarf named Penny – are picked up by Yunkai’i slavers and sold to a Wise Master named Yezzen zo Qaggaz. Tyrion manages to keep the trio together, pretending to be a comedy show. Tyrion poisons the cruel overseer, Nurse, and his master succumbs to The Pale Mare, desease. The trio sieze the opportunity to escape. For promised wealth, they sign on with the sellswords under the leadership of Brown Ben Plumm known as the Second Sons.

A Song of Ice and Fire: A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin (2005)

Each night before sleep, she murmured into her pillow. “Ser Gregor,” it went. “Dunsen, Raff the Sweeting, Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, Queen Cersei.” She would have whispered the names of the Freys of the Crossing too, if she had known them. One day I’ll know them, she told herself, and then I’ll kill them all (p 312).

Martin splits his narrators in A Feast for Crows focusing on the events surrounding King’s Landing. We see little of Jon Snow and nothing of characters like Dany, Tyrion (who has fled Westeros), Bran and Osha (who have gone beyond the Wall), or Stanis and Melisandre (who are fortifying the Wall in hopes of claiming the North). Davos is mentioned in passing, as having been executed, but we have no proof. According to reports, all these characters will appear in A Dance with Dragons coming July 12.

This book expands upon many characters from Dorne. King Doran, an elderly, presumably weak man, appears to shun war with the Iron Throne. He has Oberyn’s daughters, the Sand Snakes, imprisoned after their attempts to rally the common folk. His own daughter, Arianne, plots with Ser Arys Oakheart of the Kingsguard, whom she has seduced, to crown Myrcella Baratheon Queen of Dorne. But her plotted is thrwarted. Myrcella’s face is disfigured and Ser Oakheart is killed. Arianne is also imprisoned where she learns she was once promised to Viserys Targaryen. Now, her brother Quentyn has traveled east to woe Danny and bring fire back to Westeros.

There are many deaths and one key resurrection. Gregor Clegane is killed by the Viper of Dorne, Oberyn. It is reported by the head of a monastery that Sandor Clegane is dead as well. Beric Dondarion resurrects Lady Catelyn Stark at the cost of his own life. Though dead for three days, Catelyn, now called Stoneheart, becomes the leader of the Brotherhood without Banners. Under her direction, many Freys hang. When Brienne of Tarth is captured, Stoneheart believes her to have betrayed her trust and united with Jaime Lanister. Brienne is hanged with an as-of-yet unrevealed word screamed from her lips.

Arya Stark becomes an apprentice at the House of Black and White, a temple associated with the assassins known as the Faceless Men. She is instructed by the Kindly Man to become no one. She poses as a girl known only as the Cat of the Canals who sells oysters along the docks of Bravoos. She has a chance encounter with Samwell Tarly as he travels with Gilly, Mance Tyrell’s infant son, and Maester Aemon. Seeking his brother and musician Dareon, the Cat of the Canals reveals where to find him. When Dareon defects from the Night’s Watch, Arya slits his throat and shoves him into the river. When she confesses her crime to the Kindly Man, he gives her sweet milk. The next morning Arya awakes blind.

At times, I grew impatient with the Iron Islands narrators. Their story line was dull until Crow’s Eye wins the King’s Moot and begins raiding near Old Town. Crow’s Eye also posesses a Dragon Horn with which he calims he can control dragons. What might this mean for Dany? What will the Horn of Winter mean for the Wall and the White Walkers?

It was especially pleasing to see Jaime break from Cersei and to see the wretched Queen mishandle her rule. I missed Tyrion greatly but I’m also half in love with Petyr Baelish (aka Littlefinger). They are both cunning and clever.

I eagerly await the release of A Dance with Dragons but, if the length of time between publications thus far is any indication, it will be a long wait for The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring.

A Song of Ice and Fire: A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

“Dark wings, dark words, me mother used to say, but when the birds fly silent, seems to me that’s even darker.” He poked at the fire with his stick. “Ut was different when there was a Stark in Winterfell. But the old wolf’s dead and young one’s gone south to play the game of thrones, and all that’s left us is the ghosts.”
“The wolves will come again,” said Jojen solemnly.
“And how would you be knowing, boy?”
“I dreamed it” (p 334-5).

North of the Wall, the Night’s Watch is failing. The Others decimate their numbers while revolt among the men leads to more deaths. Jon’s allegiance to the Night’s Watch will be tested as he rides with Mance Rayder. The Wall may very well fall if he fails. Meanwhile Samwell Tarly, the coward, becomes Sam the Slayer when he successfully slays a White Walker with a single slash of his dragonblade.

Bran and Rickon, thought to be dead, escape the doom that befell Winterfell. Rickon is taken by Osha, the wildling, to safety while Bran and Hodor, accompanied by Jojen Reed and his younger sister Meera, head north to find the three-eyed crow beyond the wall.

Tyrion, seriously injured in the battle for King’s Landing, finds himself as despised as ever, wed to Sansa Stark, and powerless to avoid a tide of accusations that threaten to claim his head.

Daenerys becomes conqueror and mother as her khal moves north but she faces two betrayals, one from her nearest and dearest of subjects. It is yet to be seem if she can rule as well as she conquers.

Jaime Lanister, once held by Robb Stark, is freed by Catelyn. Accompanied by Brienne, a former Rainbow Knight of Renly’s and sworn sword to Catelyn, Jaime makes his way south to King’s Landing to be traded for the Stark girls. He does not make it unscathed.

Robb remains undefeated on battlefield but loses the war from his bed sheets. He is one of two kings to pass in A Storm of Swords. Tywin Lanister plays Lord Frey against the wolf king but the Tyrell’s prove equally cunning at disposing of Joffry.

Lord Davos is named Hand of the King by Stannis, a dangerous position when the King’s will is bent by a priestess of R’hllor, Melisandre. Stannis is determined to gain the Iron Throne. Melisandre claims he has been chosen by R’hllor to fight the Evil that must not be named. But he lacks an army. Will he sacrifice an innocent child – his own brother’s bastard child, Edric Storm –  to raise stone dragons?

Arya goes from the frying pan into the fire and finds herself in the hands of Sandore Cleagon, the Hound. What will become of this fiesty, angry girl whose direwolf now leads a pack of man killers now her mother and older brother are dead?

Heads roll in this third installment and none are safe from Martin’s sword. Heroes become devils and brutes turn hero. Another gripping – if long – read.

Library copy | Bantam| $8.99 | ISBN 978-1439149645

Song of Ice and Fire: A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin (1999)

A Clash of Kings is the second book in Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice series. Several characters return, including Tyrion, the imp who’s sent to King’s Landing by his father, the new Hand of the King. But Tyrion has a lot of work to do if he is to act the part of the Hand while his father battles Robb, King of the North. Readers may be surprised at Tyrion’s strong sense of justice considering his family’s behavior.

Sansa befriends a court fool in hopes of finding an ally and an escape from Joffrey, the insipid and cruel King of King’s Landing.

Jon Snow and the men of the Night’s Watch embark on a large-scale ranging of the lands beyond the Wall in hopes of solving the mystery that is the undead Others. What they find are deserted Wildling villages and whispers of an army amassing under King Manse.

A new character/narrator named Davos emerges giving readers an insight into King Stanis’s plans. The deceased King Robert’s elder brother aligns himself with a woman who claims the Lord of Light will lead him to victory over all the other false kings but Davos has his suspicions. This foreign woman dabbles in magic.

Bran, though crippled, learns he can walk with his wolf, Summer, as a shape shifter. Then Theon, the Stark’s former ward, leads a small band of men and captures Winterfell while Robb is in the south fighting the Lanisters. Bran, feeling more helpless than ever, yields to Theon, while Rickon becomes angrier and more petulant than ever, as reflected by his wolf, Shaggydog.

Arya makes her way north with Yoren of the Night’s Watch and his recruits, including Gendry (King Robert’s bastard), but their small band is soon waylaid and Arya must use all her skill and cunning to stay alive and unknown.

A Clash of Kings also continues the story of Daenerys, the last remaining Targarian, as she seeks refuge for her newborn dragons. Until her dragons are grown they are easy targets for greedy men, the usurper king of the Seven Realms, and others who would see the dragon line fail.

In this hefty tome, Martin continues his bloody, bawdy series. Intriguing and suspenseful, I enjoyed every moment of it. I’m sinking my teeth into book three, A Storm of Swords already! While there was one key death in this book, I have heard there are many more to come.

Sweetly by Jackson Pearce (8/23/2011)

It’s a cottage, tucked away into a nest of mountainous oak tress that are draped with Spanish moss. The exterior is a cinnamon shade of wood, with a stone chimney that’s being devoured by ivy. Flower boxes line the white-trimmed windows, filled with what looks like peppermint plants our mom used to grow. The door is arced and licorice red and sits behind a covered porch that holds several rocking chairs. A wooden sign with Coca-Cola advertisements on either end hangs from the porch’s mottled tin roof; pale violet lettering in its center reads KELLY’S CHOCOLATIER (p 22).

Sweetly is a reimagining of “Hansel & Gretel” and a companion to Sisters Red, Pearce’s previous book. This review is based on an avance reader copy provided by the publisher.

As children, Ansel and his younger twin sisters traipse through the woods, in search for a witch they don’t really believe exists. Then the witch is upon them, and only Ansel and Gretchen escape the forest. Gretchen is wracked by her sister’s disappearance. They are the same. Why did one survive without her mirror? What did the witch do to her?

Now in their teens, their parents deceased, the two are thrown out of their Washington state home by their stepmother. Headed for the east coast, they drive until their car breaks down outside a small sleepy town in South Carolina. Ansel finds employment in Live Oaks with Sophia, the town’s chocolatier. Some call her a witch, others say she is the patron saint of candy. Either way, Gretchen find herself relaxing for the first time since her twin vanished. Ansel finds he is falling in love with Sophia.

Then Gretchen learns of the girls who went missing over the last two years. They disappeared, apparently bound for the city, after Sophia’s annual chocolate festival, a party for the local girls. It’s clear Sophia knows more about these disappearances than she is telling. It is also becoming clear to Gretchen there is a witch in Live Oaks. What is happening to these girls? What makes them special? Is Gretchen destined to vanish, as her twin did? The twin, whose name they do not speak…

Enter Samuel Reynolds. The town crazy who purports to hunts witches. With his help, Gretchen decides to fight her fate. She refuses to vanish.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ok, what did I really like about this book? I love the cover. I envy Pearce her awesome book covers!

The introduction – prologue and beginning chapters – are captivating. The atmosphere, the townspeople, the chocolatier were pitch perfect. I can’t remember wanting to gorge myself on sweet treats so badly since the delicious looking Sweethearts cover (Sarah Zarr).  I couldn’t put Sweetly down.

The twist in chapter five took me completely by surprise, but that marked the stories deviation from the traditional fairy tale. I wasn’t expecting it and I found myself a little less captivated by the rest of the story. But my take on this was greatly colored by my expectation. I was expecting a more traditional retelling and less of a Sister’s Red companion.

The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith (2010)

It was easy enough for me to keep my mind off things as long as we were out in the music and diversions of Blackpool, but as soon as the door shut us inside that quiet room, Jack felt panic setting in. I was scared about undressing in front of the girls, and that maybe I was driving Nickie away from me and there was nothing I could do about it. I knew Connor expected me to give the glasses to him. I worried, too, if Seth was going to start making noises. And I tried, unsuccessfully, to shut out those images that flashed from the other side of the Marbury lens: Griffin running in fear, crying for my help, and seeing Freddie Horvath was there, like he was waiting for me, hunting (p 242).

The above quote is representative of The Marbury Lens. Notice the point of view shift. The multiple story lines. The fearful, anxious tone. The attempt to survive and the despair.

This novel shifts setting as abruptly as it shifts point of view. Once our main character is established, the story divides unceremoniously and while some threads overlap, it creates a dream-like quality; you know where you are and who is there but you don’t understand how you know and aren’t entirely sure what’s going on – you just know the tone.

It’s as if Smith were taking his cues from David Lynch a la Mulholland Drive.

First, the introduction. Jack is sixteen, living with his grandparents in California, and best friends with Connor. The two have been friends their whole lives. They’re about to take a trip to London over the summer to scout out a boys boarding school. Then, Jack is kidnapped by a doctor named Freddie Horvath, almost raped and escapes, narrowly.

Wanting to forget it all, he heads to London on schedule. Connor will follow. While there, he meets Henry, a mysterious man who leaves a pair of glasses for him. When he looks inside the glasses Jack enters Marbury, a world at war where Jack and two youngsters are on the run from wild, raucous cannibals, lead by a sinister version of Connor.

In Marbury Jack meets Seth, a ghost with a haunting past. As Seth helps Jack, his story becomes Jack’s. And so Seth crosses over into our world.

When Jack returns to London, there are gaps in his memory, time missing. He met a beautiful girl with whom he is falling in love but can’t remember how or where they met. Connor arrives and also enters Marbury, though his experience is vastly different from Jack’s.

What is real? Marbury or London? What happens to Jack when he leaves one world for another? Smith keeps the reader guessing.

All these stories, jumbled make up The Marbury Lens. When I finished, I was reminded strongly of The Usual Suspects. Verbal, played by Kevin Spacey, is being questioned by the police. He weaves a compelling story where everything fits neatly together until the end, when we learn of his ruse. He has fabricated most of his story from miscellaneous items surrounding him, so concealing his identity and his crimes. Jack seemed to be acting the same way, and yet, at times… not.

All the while, a part of him is screaming for help! You haven’t gotten away from anything, Jack. Fuck you, Jack. Freddie Horvath did something to my brain.

It is an examination of how trauma affects the mind and body, guilt, embarrassment, blame, friendship, abandonment and the horrors humans are capable of committing.

This isn’t a book I can nail down and say “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it.” It’s more like, “What did I just read?” It’s intense, a lot depressing and a little bit hopeful. It’s realistic, paranormal, and dystopian. I wouldn’t call it a perfect novel… my attention wavered half-way through… after all, it was difficult to sit through Mulholland Drive. It is a very good novel. I’m glad I read it all but I’m going to read something uplifting next!

Now, there were some crazy comments made on Jawas Read, Too! pertaining to the numerous occurrences Connor mentions homosexuality in joking or in passing.  I won’t comment on any of that. Suffice to say I found Connor a realistic and endearing character. His friendship with Jack was complicated and wonderful. It’s what held me when my attention wavered.

PS: I do love the cover but I thought the book trailer was rather lame, so I’m not linking to it. Also, I’d really like to introduce Freddie Horvath to Dexter.

Another review: Wandering Librarian

Firelight by Sophie Jordan (2010)

My face tightens, cheeks sharpening, subtly shifting, stretching. My breath changes as my nose shifts, ridges pushing out from the bridge. My limbs loosen and lengthen. The drag of my bones feels good. I lift my face to the sky. The clouds become more than smudges of gray. I see them as though I’m already gliding through them. Feel cool condensation kiss my body.

Jacinda is a draki, a descendant of the dragons of long ago. Her species is rare, threatened by Hunters, and living in hiding. Jacinda is even more unique. After generations without a fire breather, Jacinda has a talent most thought extinct.

Her pride has long existed by shifting into human form during the day, flying only at night, and using their collective talents (for healing, concealing, breathing under water, etc.) to shield and protect themselves. They kill only Hunters who wander too close.

When Jacinda, ever defiant of a pride that would control her, breaks one of the most important rules of their pride and barely escapes from Hunters, even her unique gift cannot save her. Her mother forces her and her sister, Tamra, to flee to live among humans, a welcome change for Tamra who never manifested into a dragon, but a nightmare for Jacinda. Subduing her draki self is akin to killing her.

Enter Will. Jacinda’s draki is aroused every time he is near, but not negatively. He seems to be the only thing keeping Jacinda from despair, but he is a Hunter.

Firelight is a mediocre book based on a great concept. Ever since reading Fablehaven: Secret of the Dragon Sanctuary I’ve desired more fantasy fiction involving dragons transforming into human form. This certainly satisfies on a fangirl level, but sadly never rises to more than a Twilight-ish knockoff, both in plot, tone, and language. Take this passage, for example:

“…I guess you should stay away from me, too. That’s what I should be telling you.” He drops his eyes, his expression suffering and intense. Again, I want to touch him, to stroke a hand down the plane of his cheek and ease whatever it is that gnaws at him.

His words echo inside of me. You should stay away from me. Something I already know, but sitting in the front seat of his car, I’m not quite succeeding at that. I wish I could. Wish I didn’t feel the pull, this constant tug toward him.”

Jacinda wavers back and forth between accepting her attraction to Will and recognizing her need for him to convincing herself she can – no, she will - ignore him. Only to fall for him all over again, mushy gooshy eyes and all. Comments about Will like ” he’s an addictive drug to me that I can’t quit” had me retching. But this one will hit a chord with Twilight fans, but if you are looking for something a little more nuanced, check out these great fantasy reads:

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce (2010)

My fingertips skim the worn handle of the hatchet hanging at my waist, hidden by the flutter of the red cloak. The cloak serves multiple purposes – the color of passion, sex, and lust is irresistable to wolves, and the fabric hides the instrument of their death. And perhaps the most important, wearing it feels right, as if I’ve put on a uniform that turns me into more than a scarred-up orphan girl (p 10).

The front cover is brilliant, very attractive. The deluge of endorsements from the dregs of YA authors on the back is less encouraging. Sisters Red is not as excellent as its cover led me to hope, but not so poor that I would lump it with Hush, Hush or Beautiful Creatures. It is head and shoulders above Shiver, another werewolf novel.

This retelling of Little Red Riding Hood is about two girls, Scarlett and Rose March, who survive a wolf attack and grow up to hunt the Fenris, men who transform into wolves and hunt girls.

There is more substance to this YA fantasy than most I come across lately, but there are underdeveloped plot points (the Woodsman) and a fair amount of predictability (Silas). Rose and Scarlett often seem more than mortal in their battles against the Fenris.

But, flaws aside, I picked this book up at work yesterday and finished before bed. I like my fantasy gritty (not fluffy) and this qualifies. I believe this will appeal to boys just as much as girls. Scarlett is a hard-core hunter and the Fenris aren’t sappy and glorified. There is a fair share of dismemberment and death and a touch of romance.

There has been a fair amount of discussion over at Book Smugglers about a certain passage some have interpreted as a metaphor for rape.

While there are definite parallels to rape (Pierce herself weighed in at one point), I do not subscribe to that interpretation alone (nor do I believe it is a passage that condones rape).

I could just as easily draw parallels to an intellectual awakening. Scarlett and Rosie once lived in ignorance of the Fenris, as the ‘dragonfly girls’ do now. They may have continued that way but for a brutal attack during their childhood that left a permanent mark on Scarlett.

The whole story could serve as a metaphor for the disparity between the haves and the have-nots and those who try to protect the ignorant.

We live in luxury on the backs of the impoverished, underfed and ignored. Like the ones who walk away from Omelas, Scarlett cannot let it go. She fights to protect the innocent ‘dragonfly girls’ from the dark and horrific truth (symbolized by the Fenris). After all, would you buy that diamond if you knew how much suffering it took to get that ring on your finger?

If you do know, in the back of your mind, the depths of inequality needed so you can play with your fancy toys and drive fast cars, then you are Silas. For he knows the truth and decides to let it go… for a while. After all, doesn’t it feel good when you drop a few coins in that homeless person’s bucket or text message $10 to the Haiti relief effort. For who could live with the knowledge, the burden of the truth that Scarlett carries? You would join the Peace Corp.

But Scarlett cannot let it go. She is reminded daily by her scars. Is she high and mighty? Yes. But she has earned that right. She faces the truth so we don’t have to. It’s not a pretty job but it is enough that her sister and Silas, those she loves, can enjoy the world as she can’t.

Do you have to be a pretty, bouncy girl to have your eyes open? No. it can come for you in your youth, while at Granny’s, or in the middle of an ordinary day, at an apple festival, or in the apex of your young adulthood, at the club… If at all. What choice did you make?

Read more reviews: A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy, Abby the Librarian

The Curse Workers: White Cat by Holly Black (2010)

We are, largely, who we remember ourselves to be. That’s why habits are so hard to break. If we know ourselves to be liars, we expect not to tell the truth. If we think of ourselves as honest, we try harder (p 236).

Cassel comes from a family of curse workers – people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. His mother, now in jail where she resides for most of the book, works emotions. Philip, his eldest brother, can break your bone with a touch of his pinkie finger while the middle boy, Barron, works luck.

Cassel has no magic. He works his cons the old fashion way, but he’s still on the outside. Curse work is illegal, so every worker is a criminal. Many of them turn to crime bosses for work and acceptance. Philip has been marked by the crime boss Zacharov, whose daughter Lila is best friends with Cassel until Cassel murders her.

His memory of that event is sketchy at best, but he remembers holding the bloody knife and grinning with insane pleasure. After his brothers cover up the murder, Cassel carries the memory deep within himself as he pretends to be a normal kid at a boarding school.

This is a story with plot twists and turns, where ferreting out information is almost impossible when your narrator is as unreliable as Cassel. But Cassel is helped by a grungy white cat who helps him see truth through dreams.

*~*

Black Cat is dissident at best. The writing lacks a certain harmony and, in some cases, direction. At one point, as Cassel is trying to unravel the mysteries surrounding him, the story meanders as Cassel has to recover the white cat from an animal shelter. I understand the author needed a reason to bring in two of Cassel’s classmates, Daneca and Sam, but it was spectacularly boring for a while. In fact, the story didn’t get interesting or coherent until over 150 pages in, when Cassel begins to piece his life together.

I felt little concern for Black’s characters and little connection to her world, even after the big reveal. Cassel came across as almost apathetic himself. When he learns the truth of his life, he is less concerned with revenging himself against the wrongdoers and more concerned with saving a crime boss who would only have Cassel continue to act a criminal. I felt little empathy for Lila, whose ambitions would make her the next crime boss, or for Cassel’s brothers, whose characters are hardly explored.

The workers in general, in this story, had little or no redeeming qualities and I was therefore, apathetic to their machinations.

The remaining pages were an improvement over the start, if slightly predictable. It’s clear from the outset that Cassel will turn out to be a worker and what his ‘talent’ will be. Boy readers may find the gangster aspect of the story appealing, but frankly, I didn’t understand why such powerful workers were at the mercy of one gangster boss, nor why Cassel so easily agreed to be ‘owned’ by Zacharov in the end. It’s like all the characters are stuck in a box and with all their ‘powers,’ no one thinks to cut themselves out and beat a different path.

Suffice to say I’m not interested enough in this world to pick up Red Glove, the sequel due out in April 2011.

Here is what School Library Journal said:

Black has written a dark coming-of-age tale with a likable hero. Teens will empathize with Cassel’s desire to fit in and his occasional clashes with his family while rooting for him to unravel the conspiracy. Though readers will enjoy the fast-paced plot, there are points, particularly in the last few chapters, where the action is confusing and clarity appears sacrificed for expediency. Some secondary characters, such as Cassel’s grandfather and friend Sam, are three-dimensional, while others, including his brothers and Lila, are less well realized. Despite these minor flaws,White Cat will appeal to readers who grew up on Holly Black’s “Spiderwick Chronicles” (S & S) and are ready for something edgier.

White Cat isn’t a bad book. The writing isn’t bad and I get what Black is going for. I just didn’t enjoy it nor do I agree with its tone or message. I’m sure it will be liked by others but it wasn’t for me. It is included on Early Word’s Mock Printz list.

Read other (more positive) reviews at: Opps Wrong Cookie, Book Smugglers, The Compulsive Reader, A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy.