Review: Shadows on the Moon by Zoë Marriot

  Title: Shadows on the Moon [Amazon|GoodReads]
  Author: Zoë Marriot [Website|Twitter]
  Standing: Stand alone novel.
  Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Retelling, PoC
  Published: April 24th, 2012 by Candlewick Press (first published July 7th, 2011).
  Format: Kindle edition; 465 pages.
  Source: ARC copy received from publisher via NetGalley.
  Challenge: YA/MG Fantasy Challenge

Love comes like storm clouds
Fleeing from the wind,
and casts Shadows on the moon.

On Suzume’s fourteenth birthday, the men come for her and her family.  Accusing her father of treason, he and her cousin who is as a sister to her, are struck down.  Suzume escapes, revealing a power she did not know she had—the power to shadow weave.  She cultivates her talent, learning to bend the world around her, create mantles of light and shadow that hide her from sight.  She is able to manipulate her features so that others see only what she wants them to see.  For it is only this mask, showing her as meek, that saves her life.  Taken in by a family friend, Suzume’s mother remarries a man her daughter suspects of being cruel and desirous, the type who always wants that which he cannot have.  Suzume treads lightly, finding solace and friendship in those who can see beyond her mask, namely, the strange foreigner Otieno.  When presented with the only possible opportunity to exact revenge on those who destroyed her family, Suzume knows she must take it, regardless of what it means she will lose.

Shadows on the Moon by Zoë Marriot is a beautifully constructed fantasy retelling of Cinderella, which takes place in a realm called the Moonlit Land. The Moonlit Land is heavily influenced by feudal Japan, with many cultural aspect and terms from this time and country (along with some from China as well) creating the scaffolding of Suzume’s tale. I was fascinated by Zoë Marriot’s choices for her Cinderella story, and seeing her put her iterations of the evil stepmother and horrid stepsisters, the handsome prince, and various incarnations of the fairy god mother, was one of the most engrossing parts of the story. I will say though, that I would have loved Shadows on the Moon just as much if it hadn’t been such a clear nod at the classic tale. It was unique, lyrically written, and culturally rich. The world Zoë Marriot built with shadow weaving was foreign, and yet familiar, and I found it beautiful.

Suzume is a wonderfully heartbreaking lead. One of those characters you learn to love and respect, despite the fact that they themselves are certain they are unworthy of such regard. The book is split into three parts, each a reiteration of Suzume as a person, each an important part of her story in which she breaks free from a former life. The only consistency she has from one identity to another is Otieno, and only Otieno sees through the masks she wears, even the ones she shows herself.

I knew going in that Shadows on the Moon would deal with some subjects you don’t see in your usual Cinderella story. I knew it dealt with self-mutilation (warning to those readers who have a difficult time with the subject of cutting), and that it focused on revenge. I was hoping for something a little Kill Bill meets fairy tale, but that wasn’t what Shadows on the Moon ended up being. Shadows on the Moon was a much more subtle, character driven book than I had expected, and I ended up liking it as much as I had anticipated, but for different reasons. The all PoC cast was wonderful to see, especially when Zoë Marriot weaves in the Japanese terms and customs effortlessly; the language is delicate, and extremely fitting to the point that it almost feels translated. If I hadn’t known the author to be a little blonde woman before reading, I might have supposed she was Asian herself.

The restricting culture of feudal Japan is prevalent in Shadows on the Moon. Honor is of the utmost importance, and one knows their place, and does not show extreme emotion openly. This cultural impact is one of the reasons Suzume’s relationship with Otieno is so wonderful, but potentially heartbreaking. Suzume feels restricted by her lot in life, knowing she could be happy doing a variety of things, unconstrained by her gender role in her culture. She admires Otieno’s country and people for their open and easy ways, and lack of reserve. She longs for the ability to show her feelings openly, particularly those of the happiness that she feels with Otieno and the mourning that she feels for her family. Suzume’s plight is so troubling because she feels that for honor’s sake that she must exact revenge. To do so, she is willing to deprive herself of any modicum of happiness to the point that fury and sorrow and the desire for justice consume her beyond anything in her present situation.

Because Shadows on the Moon has such a unique spin on Cinderella, and because it is split into three distinctly important portions, I hesitate to talk any more about the story, plot, or characters involved lest I spoil anything. Suffice it to say that this story was rich and cold and desperate with longing in the most recommended and beautiful way possible.

Likelihood that I'll be back for more:  Oh goodness yes!  I’ve wanted to read Daughter of the Flames and Frostfire ever since I saw their beautiful covers (yeah, I’m easily won over by pretties), and will hopefully be doing so soon (well, the former at least, not sure when I’ll be able to get my hands on a copy of the latter).

Recommended for: Readers who enjoyed Chime, Cinder, or Memoirs of a Geisha.  Anyone who likes fairy tale retellings, good multicultural books, and historical fantasy.

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Review: The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder

Title: The Probability of Miracles [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Wendy Wunder[Website|Twitter|Facebook]
Standing: Stand alone novel.
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Magical Realism
Published: December 8th, 2011 by Razorbill
Format: Hardcover; 357 pages.  
Source: Borrowed from my local library.
Challenge: Completely Contemp Challenge.

Cam is running out of time, and running out of options.  She’s spent the past seven years in and out of hospitals, undergoing treatments and tests, and finally the medical world has declared there’s nothing more to be done.  Her mother refuses to believe this and begins pushing Cam to try all sorts of treatments--herbs, acupuncture, and most ridiculous of all, moving to Promise, Maine.  Promise is apparently known for miracles, so Cam, her mom, and her sister Perry pack up and head out, hoping for a miracle of their own.  Perry and their mother seem to see the miraculous in all things, whereas Cam can only see the coincidence.  Though maybe, it’s the coincidences that matter.  With one summer to complete her flamingo list, Cam learns to reach out, love, and live with Promise and hope.

This book took its sweet time worming its way into my heart.  In the beginning, I found myself as cynical as Cam, though not identifying with her.  She annoyed me a bit at times, as she’s fairly judgey, and while I am equally judgey, it’s not about the same things and thus I judged her.  Does that even make sense?  Meh.  Cam has closed off her heart to possibilities and hope, knowing that she has a finite amount of time left to live.  As the town of Promise and its inhabitants slowly pried open Cam’s cynical heart and infused her with life, The Probability of Miracles did the same for me.  I was so resistant to this book, I’m not sure why, but it completely won me over by the end and left me feeling oddly comforted.

I loved the multicultural aspects of this book, and found they made Cam more accessible.  Her family is an array of culture; her mother is Italian, her father was Somoan, her little sister’s father was Norwegian, and her mother’s boyfriend is Japanese.  At one point Asher (yes, of course there’s a boy *wink*) comments that Cam doesn’t live her culture, she performs it, and I found this to be one of the most beautiful sentiments of the book.  It seems incredibly cheesy but fitting that Cam and her sister essentially grew up at Disney World.  How sweet is that?  Can you imagine?  Childhood me is fuming with jealousy.  Adult me still hates Florida and thinks it is a 90’s time-warp, but still...  

Physically, Cam describes herself as ‘cancerexic’ and speaks negatively towards super skinny body types.  I know, some girls can’t help being skinny, but some starve themselves to be that way and I love seeing a positive image towards feeding oneself!  She was formerly heavier, and now keeps her hair cut short ignoring stereotypes that come with her chosen style.  Finally, Cam’s relationships with the other women in her family, her mother, her grandma, and her sister are enviable and strong whether she knows it or not, and the connections she makes in Promise show her to have a warm and welcoming heart she thought she’d closed long ago.

What initially seemed like it was going to be the next screenplay for a Hallmark Movie Channel special (okay, yes, I do watch a lot of those at Christmas and enjoy them), turned out to be a deeply moving book that blurred the lines between optimism and cynicism.  It’s about having something be about something other than a sickness when that sickness is all you have, and that is everything.

Likelihood that I'll be back for more:  This was a lovely debut, and I would certainly read more from Wendy Wunder...preferably if it’s not about cancer.

Recommended for:  Cynics, optimists, hula dancers.  You can read the first 5 chapters of The Probability of Miracles here!

Real life repercussions of reading this book: Riptide Rush really is the best flavor of Gatorade!  Gotta get me some of that...

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Review: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Title: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Jesse Andrews [Website]
Standing: Stand alone novel.
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Published: March 1st, 2012 by Amulet Books
Format: Kindle edition.
Source: ARC from publisher via NetGalley.
Challenge: Completely Contemp Challenge.

Greg has managed to make it to his senior year in high school hanging on the periphery of every group.  Sure, he has no friends, but he also has no enemies trying to destroy his life either.  Until Rachel, the girl he almost-kind-of dated in Hebrew school, but hasn’t talked to since, gets cancer and his mother insists they hang out.  His hanging out with Rachel starts to change his position in high school, as does her discovery of his underground movie making hobby with his friend Earl.

What started out as a laugh out loud funny book, manage to lose my interest, humor, and attention entirely by its end.  It might just be me, but when a book is self-effacing to the point of continually telling you how much it sucks and why you should be reading something else, eventually I start to believe it.  Here’s just a couple of the many examples:

I do actually want to say one other thing before we get started with this horrifyingly inane book.  You may have already figured out that it’s about a girl who had cancer.  So there’s a chance you’re thinking, “Awesome!  This is going to be a wise and insightful story about love and death and growing up.  It is probably going to make me cry literally the entire time.  I am so fired up right now.”  If that is an accurate representation of your thoughts, you should probably try to smush this book into a garbage disposal and then run away.  Because here’s the thing: I learned absolutely nothing from Rachel’s leukemia.  In fact, I probably became stupider about life because of the whole thing.

I can’t believe you’re still reading this.  You should smack yourself in the face a couple of times right now, just to complete the outstandingly stupid experience that is this book.

Maybe you should think about switching to a different book.  Even to, like, an owner’s manual to a refrigerator or something.  That would be more heartwarming than this.

The first time was funny, but by the end I was thinking ‘why yes, I would rather be reading an owner’s manual to a refrigerator atm’.  I suppose this is in part because we did just get a new refrigerator and I’m excited about water magically appearing strait from the door in the way it has at my parents house for as long as I can remember, but part of it had to be that I really got over Me and Earl and the Dying Girl before it was through.

Our narrator, Greg, is your classic pudgy, pasty, awkwardly funny Jewish kid.  He had me laughing out loud a lot for the first quarter or so of the book.  However, after that, it started to feel like he was just trying too hard.  At everything.  Greg wants so badly for everyone to like him that he goes to great lengths to never be friends with anyone.  He tries so hard to make people laugh that he’ll run any bit that gets a chuckle into the ground.  By the end, the only humor I was actually gleaming was from Earl, who wasn’t even trying to be funny (and therefore was).  Greg was well aware of his flaws, he spent pages degrading himself and demolishing his self-worth over his self-centered attitude and lack of empathy.  Earl at one point goes off about the people in his life that he’d love to help, but the unfortunate reality is that you can’t help people who won’t first help themselves.  He was right, but of course Greg doesn’t really get the point.  Sure, he tells you up front he learns nothing, there’s no touching moments, etc., I just suppose I should have taken him more seriously. It's not that I need every story to be emotionally touching, but I do need to like the characters I'm supposedly cheering for, or if I don't like the characters I like to have a compelling story. I didn't feel really keyed into the story or the characters, and was therefore disappointed.

I was hoping for a cancer book with more humor and less tears.  Did I get it?  Yes.  Just not to the extent that I was hoping.  The author included scenes written in script format, which was clever giving the movie-making premise of the book, as well as a number of lists both numbered and bulleted.  To me, I wish he’d stuck with one thing, or made it less mish-mash, as was it came across a bit gimicky.  I will say that I adored the paper artwork cover, which is what attracted me to the book in the first place.  

A lot of people will probably appreciate this book more than I did, but to me, this book was that kid that’s always hanging around trying way too hard to make everyone laugh and just making everything awkward because he’s not really that funny.  I never liked that kid much, and I didn’t really like this book much either.

Likelihood that I'll be back for more:  No thanks.  This wasn’t the worst thing I’ve read all year, but I was quite ready to be done.

Recommended for:  People who want a more humorous cancer book, people who enjoy books that play around with formatting.

Real life repercussions of reading this book:  One thing I did love about Greg?  Creative swearing!  I adore creative swearing (dicksmuggler, cockwagon, etc.), and really need to get on that more.

Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Title: Cinder [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Marissa Meyer [Website|Twitter|Facebook]
Standing: First in the new Lunar Chronicles quartet.
Genre: Young Adult, Sci Fi, Retelling
Published: January 3rd, 2012 by Feiwel and Friends
Format: Hardcover; 390 pages.  
Source: Borrowed from my local library.
Challenge: Debut author challenge.

Cinder has spent her years since becoming a cyborg (and an orphan, and a second-rate citizen) laboring to provide for her overbearing stepmother and stepsisters.  Her stepmother never wanted to accept Cinder into their home; she feels Cinder is to blame for her husband’s exposure to the plague that caused his death, and only keeps her around as a source of income.  Cinder is, after all, the most talented mechanic in all of New Beijing.  While working, Cinder finds herself approached by an ‘inconspicuous’ Prince Kai, asking her to fix an outdated android that holds some important information.  She’s happy to be of assistance, but helping the Prince becomes increasingly difficult when her younger stepsister, Peony, is infected with the plague and her stepmother opts to volunteer Cinder for treatment research.   

The cyborg draft had been started by some royal research team a year ago.  Every morning, a new ID number was drawn from the pool of so many thousand cyborgs who resided in the Eastern Commonwealth.  Subjects had been carted in from provinces as far-reaching as Mumbai and Singapore to act as guinea pigs for the antidote testing.  It was made out to be some sort of honor, giving your life for the good of humanity, but it was really just a reminder that cyborgs were not like everyone else.  Many of them had been given a second chance at life by the generous hand of scientists and therefore owed their very existence to those who had created them.  They were lucky to have lived this long, many thought.  It’s only right that they should be the first to give up their lives in search for the cure.

I have to admit that Cinder was so much more than I was expecting.  I feel books rarely live up to their hype, and to me, Cinder was one of the most hyped up YA titles of the new year.  So I lowered my expectations, but I have to say, for me this one totally lived up to the hype.  Cinder had all of the elements of a great retelling.  It was true to the structure of the well-known Cinderella, but managed to completely reimagine the details flowing into that structure to support it, and to do so in a way that was completely unique.  

Cinder lives in a future after WWIV, where the world has divided into large territories whose leaders work together regularly.  The moon, colonized hundreds of years previously, has become Earth’s biggest threat where Queen Levana sits the throne as a powerful and manipulative dictator hungering for more.  Prince Kai must deal with dangerous negotiations to maintain peace, while at the same time desperately searching for a cure for the plague, lumotosis, that has ravaged the Earth for around fifteen years.

Cinder made an excellent example of the issue of prejudice.  Cinder finds herself the victim of being considered less than human because of her cyborg status.  She struggles to be accepted into society, insistent on her humanity, while at the same time harboring incredible prejudice against Lunars (those people who inhabit the moon).

I also very much enjoyed the treatment of emotions in Cinder.  This was not an overly emotional book.  There’s no pining, no insta-love, but still the characters come across as very real.  I wish more books out there would realize you don't have to be melodramatic to be genuine! Prince Kai is very kind and down to earth, yet very aware of his duties and sense of responsibility to his people even (or especially) with the trying reality of plague in his own family.  Cinder is, quite frankly, the coolest mechanic since Kaylee of Firefly.  She’s a tough chick who has to wade through pools of crap, but doesn’t sit around moping or even sharing her hardships with those around her.  This definitely can be a fault when it comes to her friendship with Kai, but I still respect the girl for it. And the bad guys? Man...they are evil! You get not only your evil stepmother but also your evil queen, and both have my all encompassing hate in the best way possible.

Cinder's ‘major twist’ was predictable, but in a way that I appreciated.  I don’t feel as if readers were written down to in this case, we’re supposed to get it, and for once I wasn’t banging my head against the wall wondering when the characters were going to figure it out already.  I did have a slight problem with some of the dialog.  It occasionally felt a little off-kilter given the setting, but this was fairly minor.  Finally, some of the sci-fi aspects of the book seemed to be dipping over into fantasy a bit. As the story states, it is not magic, but the explanation still seemed a bit fanciful to me. This aspect didn't reduce my enjoyment though. Overall, I loved this book, and it’s certainly one of my favorites of 2012 thus far.

You can read the first 5 chapters of Cinder free!

Likelihood that I'll be back for more:  Absofreakinlutely!  This is the first book I’ve read this year that I closed and immediately starting bouncing my legs in ancy anticipation for the next installment.  

Recommended for:  Firefly fans. It's not just the Kaylee thing either, with its mixture of Chinese and English influences, Cinder could take place in a similar environment. Anyone who loves a good fairy tale retelling, and chicks that aren’t delicate and won’t apologize for it dammit!

Real life repercussions of reading this book: Omg I can’t decide which of Cinder’s awesome abilities I want most, can you?  I do really like the whole lie detector bit...At any rate, who didn't have this song in their head with all the Iko love?

Shorts: Glitches by Marissa Meyer

Glitches by Marissa Meyer is available for FREE here.

If you’re debating whether or not the extremely hyped, Cinder, is for you, I suggest checking out Glitches!  Glitches is a short story that takes place approximately 5 years before Cinder.  It tells the tale of Cinder, and 11 year old orphan traveling to New Beijing to meet the family that has agreed to take her in.  Cinder’s parents have recently perished in a hover crash, and she herself is lucky to be alive.  After substantive surgeries, Cinder now exists as a cyborg, her most notable features being a new metal hand and leg.  Cinder must learn to adjust to her new ‘features’, like what does that orange light indicate, why can she no longer seem to cry, and what use might she be to the world?  Are the physical traits that alter her humanity glitches?  Knowing she is unwelcome, particularly by her new stepmother, Cinder works to find her place of belonging so far away from everything she has known.

You don’t need to read Glitches to enjoy Cinder, but it will give you a bit more information about Cinder’s backstory, and understanding of how she came to end up where we find her at the beginning of the novel.  Cinder definitely grows up a lot in five years!  My only complaint about Glitches is that while the art is awesomely beautiful (is that a cybornetic cherry tree?!), Cinder’s lost her left limbs, not her right.  But that’s just me being OCD.

Review: Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Title: Every Other Day [Amazon|GoodReads]
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes [Website|Twitter]
Standing: Stand alone novel.

Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Sci Fi
Published: December 27th, 2011 by EgmontUSA
Format: Hardcover; 329 pages.  
Source: Borrowed from my local library.

Every other day, Kali is a normal human girl; but every other day, she is something else entirely.  Since puberty, Kali has had the experience of change every day at dawn from girl to...well she’s not quite sure what.  She only knows she is a hunter, with the drive, instincts, and skill to track and kill preturnatural beings like hellhounds, basalisks, and zombies.  She can locate any weapon, heal incredibly fast, and her blood is poison to the creatures she fights.  When Kali notices a distinct marking on one of the cheerleader’s backs, indicating that a chupacabra has marked her for death, Kali knows her only option is to lure the creature to attack her instead...hopefully she’ll last till dawn when she’ll have the power to kill it.  

So let me give you three reasons why I was doing mental cartwheels after finishing Every Other Day:

1. The character names were awesome, best of the year so far.  I mean it takes some serious balls to name your half-Indian kid “Kali”, and I mean that in the most I-tip-my-hat-to-you-madam kind of way.  Oh, and did I mention that she’s half-Indian?  Yay for multicultural main characters!
2. It’s not a series!  I feel like it is so rare to find YA lit in any genre other than contemporary that doesn’t come as a set.  I found the existence of Every Other Day as a stand alone so refreshing.  Though I’ll be honest, I picked this book up because Melissa Marr was talking about it and she wants us all to bug Jennifer to write more and I am so on that team!  I would love to read a sequel, or even another story set in the same world--love it!
3. Attention readers:  this book is essentially CLICHE FREE!  I was so impressed.  When I open a YA Urban Fantasy book, I have some expectations.  Every Other Day didn’t meet those expectations in an amazingly good way!  Obviously I love what I’ve come to expect from the genre, or I wouldn’t read so much of it, but I love it even more when an author can totally surprise me and take the road less travelled.  Huzzah!

Jennifer Lynn Barnes’s characters are very real, and I was surprised at who I came to like and who I didn’t.  Kali is incredibly strong, and even though she unwittingly has a hero complex, it’s seated in a sense of duty and her attachment to the human part of her that wouldn’t be there if she was entirely something else.  You feel for the girl, not only does she not have any idea what she is, but as far as she knows she’s the only one.  I found it interesting that even in her solitary state she’s always saying things about “people like me” as if she also has an unconscious knowledge of her kind.  Besides which, she’s a badass:

The goddess Kali

The crunching sound  wasn’t exactly pleasant, and the hellhound’s breath was killer, but other than that, I wasn’t really bothered.  People like me?

We didn’t feel pain.

My blood splattered everywhere, but messy eater or not, the hellhound managed to get some of my flesh in its mouth, and the moment my blood touched its tar-black tongue, the beast froze, paralyzed.  I jerked what was left of my arm out of its mouth and managed to drag myself out from underneath its carcass as it fell.

Game.  Set.  Match.

My prey wasn’t dead, not yet, but it would be soon.  Even now, my blood was spreading through the hellhound’s nervous system, a toxin every bit as lethal as a serpent’s venom.  I wasn’t planning on waiting for the creature to die from the poison, though.  It couldn’t move.  It couldn’t fight back.

Might as well cut off its head.

Kali’s dad kind of sucks at parenting, but I appreciate that even as a largely absent parent, he’s still very much in the story.  As we grow to better understand the Kali-dad relationship, it actually becomes fairly deep and heartwrenching:

“There comes a moment in ever kid’s life when they look at their parents and realize that they’re people--stupid and fallible and as breakable as the rest of us.”

Bethany and Skylar are the best!  Skylar is “just a little” psychic, and a tough scrappy girl with five older brothers.  She reaches out to Kali when Kali doesn’t even realize she needs someone, and in the short span of two days becomes more dear to her than she could have thought possible.  Bethany is your classic popular girl, and somehow manages to become one of my favorite characters despite this...or maybe because of this?  The events of the book don’t change who Bethany is, she doesn’t really grow as a person, but you (and Kali) come to realize that despite being a bit of a rich spoiled snob, she’s a good person who’s had her own shiz to deal with and I totally respect that.  Skylar’s brothers are great, even Elliot who I didn’t like one bit made me happy because his role was unexpected to me.  And I’m not saying anything about Zev, because that is for you to discover.

Every Other Day had me doing a lot of mental fist pumping, laughing, and I even teared up at one point. The world Jennifer Lynn Barnes has created is totally genre bending, providing a scientific explanation and basis for what in most books are considered paranormal or fantasy creatures like manticores, dragons, chupacabra, etc. It's a world where everyone knows these things exist, heck, hellhounds are on the endangered species list (though Kali insists they are so not endangered). It managed to be simultaneously familiar yet totally unique, and I thought it was fantastic. You can read a full excerpt here.

Likelihood that I'll be back for more: Um...no question!  I’ll be picking up Raised By Wolves sooner rather than later because it’s come to my attention that Jennifer Lynn Barnes is awesome and I can always use more awesome in my life.

Recommended for: People who enjoy YA urban fantasy but are sick of all the cliches. Buffy fans--this book had a similar sense of humor, and Kali was every bit as cool as a slayer!  

Real life repercussions of reading this book: So for some reason “every other day” is close enough in my head to “every day” in my head that I had the song “Calendar Girl” in my head the entire time I was reading.  And now you will too.  Ha!