Cybils Reading

I was very honored to be chosen as a judge for the 2012 Cybil awards in the SF/F category for round 1.  I've learned a lot of things this year, though, especially with how different round 1 is from round 2 (where I judged last year).  Here are three important things I've learned about the Cybils this year (spoiler free!):

3.  Free Books are only fun for a while:

*PART* of my Cybils reading

Of course it's fun to get free books in the mail.  It's especially exciting when a title you've been wanting to read for a while comes in.  Eventually, though, it just gets intimidating.  After all, you're getting all these books with the expectation that you READ them.  That's a lot of reading.  A whole lot.  And it should all get done by the end of December.  Excuse me while I quit blogging to go read . . .

2. There are only so many places you can put books:
I have books EVERYWHERE.  They're taking over my couch.  And behind my couch.  My bookcase is already full.  I even took four boxes of books from my shelves to the library donations to make room, and there's still NO ROOM.  The books are taking over!

And the #1 thing Cybils reading has taught me:

THIS IS HARD!!!  The books we're reading were all nominated by someone who thought they were the best book of the year.  While that makes for a lot of books, it's all good books.  It's so humbling to read a book critically yet keep in the back of your head "someone loved this book."  And it shows.  I'm starting to feel so spoiled reading one good book right after another.  I think my reviews are suffering because there's only a few ways to say OMG THIS BOOK IS AMAZING and I've got so many books I need to say it for!  It's also harder and harder to choose which books should be in contention because they're all so good and so different and yet I want to choose all of them!  Why is the short list so short?!?

Stacking the Shelves: November 12-18

The Cybils judging has me on the list for a ton of books, so to help me keep track of them I'm joining in this Sunday meme for a while.


From Publishers for the Cybils:

   From the Library:

 Purchased:

The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson

In the sequel to the acclaimed The Girl of Fire and Thorns, a seventeen-year-old princess turned war queen faces sorcery, adventure, untold power, and romance as she fulfills her epic destiny.

Elisa is the hero of her country. She led her people to victory against a terrifying enemy, and now she is their queen. But she is only seventeen years old. Her rivals may have simply retreated, choosing stealth over battle. And no one within her court trusts her-except Hector, the commander of the royal guard, and her companions. As the country begins to crumble beneath her and her enemies emerge from the shadows, Elisa will take another journey. With a one-eyed warrior, a loyal friend, an enemy defector, and the man she is falling in love with, Elisa crosses the ocean in search of the perilous, uncharted, and mythical source of the Godstone's power. That is not all she finds. A breathtaking, romantic, and dangerous second volume in the Fire and Thorns trilogy.

I had a few problems with Girl of Fire and Thorns, so I was a bit hesitant to read this book.  It's hard to have such a good thing destroyed by a blatant prejudice.  Fortunately this book was much more enjoyable.  The issue of Elis being fat was hardly mentioned and never mocked like it seemed the author was doing in book 1.  In the absence of fat-phobia Elisa actually became a delightful character.  She started out a little unsure of herself, a backslide from the last book, but an understandable one.  As the book goes on she manages to grow into herself and her role.  Of course, she has a lot to experience to change her!  This book is a plot gem, with intrigue and diabolical plots, spies and double agents, action and adventure.  There is a cast of thousands who move around each other in a ballet of suberfuge and power plays.  I think if I had to come up with a problem in this book it lay in the cast of thousands.  So many people were introduced with such little description or significance that I sometimes could not keep them straight.  And, of course, underneath it all is Elisa's romance!  The romance in this book was perfect.  It felt like it really built on respect and familiarity, not animal attraction, and the two players really seem like they've got the other person's best interests at heart even when they do stumble and fumble.  Lovers of the romance beware, though, the stumbles and fumbles will come, Elisa does not have an easy path, especially when combined with the rest of the plot.  This all leads up to a climax that is breathtaking and a denouement that will rip your heart out and throw it in the dirt.  In a good way, though.  The ending leaves just enough open for the sequel without being a huge cliffhanger, and it wraps up the plot in a satisfying way that middle books rarely get. 

Cybils Nominations

There's just today left to nominate books for the Cybils!  A few books off my list have gotten nominations, and I've put in my last-minute nom, but there are still some really good books that deserve nominations that haven't gotten them yet!

Loss by Jackie Morse Kessler
The Last Princess by Galaxy Craze
Destined by Jessie Harrell
Liar's Moon by Elizabeth C. Bunce


I hope that a blogger will put them in last-second or that their authors will consider putting them in!

Here is the nomination form!
Go forth and nominate!  Please make my job harder! 

Cybils Nominees

There's a week left to nominate books for the Cybils!  Right now, though, here's some YA SF/F books that I think really deserve to be up there but haven't gotten a nomination yet:

The Blood Keeper by Tessa Gratton
Loss by Jackie Morse Kessler
The Last Princess by Galaxy Craze
Destined by Jessie Harrell
Liar's Moon by Elizabeth C. Bunce
A Million Suns by Beth Revis

Here is the nomination form!
Go forth and nominate!  Please make my job harder! 

Cybils 2013

As I'm sure some of you saw this morning, I've been picked once again as a Cybils judge.  This year I'll be doing YA SFF in the first round, so that means lots and lots of book reviews in November and December as I try to read through the list.  My goal is to have read 75% by the end, I estimate that'll be around 50 books but I'll have already read some of them in my yearly reading.  Be sure and nominate your favorites!

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story. . . Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead. So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay. When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home. And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

Usually I’m not a horror person. I’ve never actually seen Jurassic Park all the way through in one setting. I’m a wimp. So I think you’ll understand when I say this book was, well, difficult for me. To be frank, it scared my pants off. I’m glad I read it, though, because along with being scary it was really, really good. Blake did very good character development. I loved how Cas, Thomas, Carmel, and even Anna grow as characters across the arc of the book. Although the ghost lore part of the story is well thought-through and laid plain for the reader there’s not a lot of backstory or obvious worldbuilding. The story doesn’t seem to need it, though. We see as much of the ghosts as Cas sees, and we know what he knows, so the unusual ghosts are exposed to us as Cas learns more of them. Blake manages to build tension without making it too heavy with her liberal use of sarcasm and witty one-liners from Cas. ***** SPOILERS ***** The only disconnect I could find was in between fixing Anna and finding the real killer. The tension could have been kept up a bit better by having a body be found before Anna was cured so the kids could wonder if she was leaving the house. Instead the letdown from freeing Anna let some of the air out of the book, making the end seem like it was racing instead of building. However, I really liked the romance that developed between Cas and Anna during and after her release from the curse. It seemed natural, appropriate to their ages and experiences, and very sweet. ***** END SPOILERS ***** In all, this was a very good book. I recommend it to anyone who wants a good scare with a love story sideline.

Angelfall by Susan Ee

It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back. Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel. Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl. Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

Angel books, they are so difficult to review. This one is especially hard. It had great pacing. It’s the kind of book that picks you up in the first chapter and you just can’t put it down until you get to the end and even then you want more. I loved how the plot slowed at just the right points to keep the reader wanting more, and sped up when it needed to but not so much that it left the reader behind. The climax is particularly well paced, with a series of mini-climaxes that hit at just the right spots. Even the cliffhanger ending is so well done that I’m not as mad about it as I am about some books. There is obvious resolution and yet also an obvious need for the characters to continue the story. The character development works well, too. I identified with Penryn almost immediately. She is resourceful, tough, and loyal to her sister. It is a little hard to contrast with her relationship to her mother, but I can see how her mother’s illness and history with Paige has made their relationship more strained. However, my major issue with this book is with the angels. Raffe is fully fleshed out as a character, but he doesn’t fit into the angel mythology. It’s very hard for me to believe that beings who are without sin can curse or be agnostic or be as aimless as the angels in the story. Even without the voice of God to tell them what to do I can’t believe that angels would go on a killing spree. And it is with the angel mythos that the worldbuilding fell apart for me. The angels just seemed too human, with human motivations and politics and pettiness. It’s as Penryn thinks in the book "The thought of superhuman beings with human temptations and flaws sent a chill through me." But angels are supposed to be different from humans. They’re not supposed to have human temptations and flaws. If Ee had claimed the angels were actually alien beings directed as an army and their communication with their home planet was cut off I think the story would have worked out. However, Ee takes all the angel mythology as it is and just takes out the part where angels cannot commit sin. For me, taking all the mythology as true except for one part and never mentioning why that one part is untrue just doesn’t work. If something is discarded from myth then it needs to be explained somehow. I’m sad that it wasn’t, because this was a really, really good book but that flaw ruined it for me. However, I will pick up anything that Ee writes and devour it because her writing is so superb, but it may be me over in the corner pouting and grumbling about angel mythos.

The Shattering by Karen Healey

Seventeen-year-old Keri likes to plan for every possibility. She knows what to do if you break an arm, or get caught in an earthquake or fire. But she wasn't prepared for her brother's suicide, and his death has left her shattered with grief. When her childhood friend Janna tells her it was murder, not suicide, Keri wants to believe her. After all, Janna's brother died under similar circumstances years ago, and Janna insists a visiting tourist, Sione, who also lost a brother to apparent suicide that year, has helped her find some answers. As the three dig deeper, disturbing facts begin to pile up: one boy killed every year; all older brothers; all had spent New Year's Eve in the idyllic town of Summerton. But when their search for the serial killer takes an unexpected turn, suspicion is cast on those they trust the most. As secrets shatter around them, can they save the next victim? Or will they become victims themselves?

This was a very difficult book for me to read. The discussions of suicide survivors hit me very close to home, and the difficult topic overshadowed a lot of the book. I also come from a very small, dying town in Kansas, so the struggles of Summerton were very relatable as well. The other problems I had were with the plot line. The first half or so of the book reads like a contemporary YA book about suicide, something I usually avoid reading because I dislike it. There’s also a strong disjoint in the front of the book because the switching narration between the three lead characters and the tenses that are used (Keri is first person, Sione and Janna are third) that makes it harder to identify and relate to them and thus get invested in the plot. In the second half they discover magic and the book starts turning into a fantasy story. At this point I’ve seen enough of each person to become invested in Keri, Sione, and Janna despite myself and the story starts to move quicker. Although I won’t spoil the magic in the book I will say that I loved how it was a modern twist on a very ancient tradition and the permutation is as logical and relatable as it is chilling. This makes the plot a little predictable, but it’s well handled so it doesn’t feel as foreshadowed as it could. There are parts, however, where the plot seems to drag, and it really messes with the tension in the story because by the time the kids get to a mini-climax the section before has taken all the drive out so the climaxes seem like a laundry list of tasks, not a real climax. However, at the end my heart still bled for Keri, and I can’t really say why other than her first person narrative and her development made me feel for her, and that was the true gift of this book.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

Elisa is the chosen one. But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can't see how she ever will. Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess. And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people's savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake. Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young. Most of the chosen do.

I feel so sad that this book sat on my shelf for so long. I was finally encouraged to read it after seeing all the good reviews about it, and I’m so glad I did. This was an excellent book, one of the best reads of the year. Elisa is a very relatable princess. She wants to be a good person and a good ruler, but she was raised as the second to a perfect child and never taught how to rule or pushed to realize her potential. Combine that with the fact that she’s considered a treasure – the carrier of the Godstone – and you can see how she’s never struggled to do anything more than learn religion. When things happen, though Elisa learns that she has gifts too, gifts that can help her find value as a ruler and as a person. It is this basis on excellent character development and Carson’s worldbuilding that makes the book so good. There are other well-developed characters in the book (Cosme, Ximenia, Rosario) and some not-so-well crafted ones (Alexander, Arina). Since the cast of characters is huge, though, I excused this because it’s impossible to develop so many characters in detail. Speaking of the world, although I think it has fantasy climatology the development of the religious systems are very intricate and make the plots and issues surrounding Elisa more rich and believable. The plot follows well, using Elisa’s characterization as the driving force, and has many twists and turns. In fact, I feel like I picked up on a lot of clues that weren’t discussed in the book, like it is book one of an epic series (it may be, there is a sequel coming). My only problem in the book comes with Elisa’s character arc. In the beginning she is a sheltered princess who admits she is fat and likes food. As she gains a purpose, though, she grows skinnier and stops eating so much. I don’t think this is a good thing. There are so few overweight heroines for girls to look up to, I feel it’s a problem to tell girls that Elisa is only fat because she’s lazy, if you stop eating you will be skinny, and Elisa is only considered worthy when she is skinny (as a part of the skills she gains during the book). The rest of the book, though, is excellent, and worth reading.

Blood Red Road by Moira Young

Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That's fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba's world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back. Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she's a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization. Blood Red Road has a searing pace, a poetically minimal writing style, violent action, and an epic love story. Moira Young is one of the most promising and startling new voices in teen fiction.

This book was hard to get into at first. I’m not sure where an Australian writer living in England learned an Ozark accent, but she had it down pretty well. That was really what was so harsh about this book: the voice of the narrator, Saba, is written in accent as if she was speaking to you. There are no quotation marks, only ‘But no I said.’ Add in the grammatical idiosyncrasies and a liberal dose of misspelled words and the result is a book that’s very difficult to get into since it’s not the way we’re used to reading books. As you read, though, the strangeness of the narrative voice forms a strong basis for the character and development of Saba. It turns from a strange way of writing to an quirk of the lead, something that shows where she came from and how much she has overcome to get to where she is. After I got over the narrative voice and started to appreciate it I found a really interesting story. Saba is harsh, uneducated, mean and unfair to her younger sister, and downright rude to most people. Somehow, though, we grow to love her anyway. I love how the narrator gives her a pet crow, Nero, from the beginning of the book. He is so loveable and smart that the reader can’t help but like Saba for his sake. Her quest to rescue her brother in the harsh, post-apocalyptic world drives the reader to look towards Lugh as well and forgive Saba of any small mistakes along the way. After all, she’s got bigger things to worry about than offending a crazy man on a boat. As Saba fights in gladiatorial battles I am still somehow rooting for her. After I met Jack I started rooting for him, too. The Free Hawks also get two thumbs up. I love a good tale of smart warrior women. In fact, I think the only thing I didn’t like was Saba’s treatment of Emmi. I loved seeing Emmi grow as a character, and even though Saba tried to deny it and hold her down as much as possible Emmi keeps rising to the occasion and showing that she’s got just as much grit as Saba does. There was also the problem with the Pinches. They didn’t seem incredibly realistic, and once you’ve reached the end of the books a lot of their actions seem insensible and illogical, making them seem more like plot devices than real characters. However, once I got past the language that is my only real complaint, which means this is an excellent story with no major drawbacks, a few different but equal examples of strong females, and an excellent romance story. I highly recommend it to everyone who can get past the writing style.

Misfit by Jon Skovron

Jael has always felt like a freak. She’s never kissed a boy, she never knew her mom, and her dad’s always been superstrict—but that’s probably because her mom was a demon, which makes Jael half demon and most definitely not a normal sophomore girl. On her sixteenth birthday, a mysterious present unlocks her family’s dangerous history and Jael’s untapped potential. What was merely an embarrassing secret before becomes a terrifying reality. Jael must learn to master her demon side in order to take on a vindictive Duke of Hell while also dealing with a twisted priest, best-friend drama, and a spacey blond skater boy who may have hidden depths.
Author Jon Skovron takes on the dark side of human nature with his signature funny, heartfelt prose.

This was a pretty amazing book. I loved Jael’s voice, her characterization, and her development arc. It all seemed believable and genuine, and it also had some indefinable appeal that not only made me believe her as a character, but love her and want to see her succeed. The truth about Jael’s mother and uncle are revealed a bit at a time, and Skovron knows exactly how to reel in the reader with just enough information to keep them hooked. I also like the presentation of the Catholic Church as a multidimensional uber-being that doesn’t always know what every segment of itself is doing. The best part of the book, though, is Jael’s father. He is a great character, his motivations and actions are straightforward when you learn his secrets, and he is a great supporter of his daughter. It is very nice to see a healthy, close father-daughter relationship in YA today.

Cybils Nominations

I'm still so torn over my Cybils Nomination for Sci-Fi/Fantasy Teen Category because there are still so many good books that haven't been nom'd yet! If you haven't made a nomination yet here are some suggestions to jog your memory:

The Demon Trapper's Daughter by Jana Oliver
Mermaid by Carolyn Turgeon
Rage by Jackie Morse Kessler
Outside In by Maria V. Snyder
12.21.12 by Killian McRae
Memento Nora by Angie Smibert
Sweetly by Jackson Pearce
The Boy from Ilysies by Pearl North

Cybil Awards

I've been sitting on this for a few days, but since it was posted last night I think I'm free to announce that I've been chosen as a 2nd round judge for the Fantasy and Science Fiction Cybils! I'm really excited about the opportunity to have some serious analysis discussion of some very good books :D

Which, btw, you should go nominate so we have books to read :D Here's the post with the nomination info.

The Red Glove by Holly Black

Curses and cons. Magic and the mob. In Cassel Sharpe's world, they go together. Cassel always thought he was an ordinary guy, until he realized his memories were being manipulated by his brothers. Now he knows the truth—he’s the most powerful curse worker around. A touch of his hand can transform anything—or anyone—into something else.

That was how Lila, the girl he loved, became a white cat. Cassel was tricked into thinking he killed her, when actually he tried to save her. Now that she's human again, he should be overjoyed. Trouble is, Lila's been cursed to love him, a little gift from his emotion worker mom. And if Lila's love is as phony as Cassel's made-up memories, then he can't believe anything she says or does.

When Cassel's oldest brother is murdered, the Feds recruit Cassel to help make sense of the only clue—crime-scene images of a woman in red gloves. But the mob is after Cassel too—they know how valuable he could be to them. Cassel is going to have to stay one step ahead of both sides just to survive. But where can he turn when he can't trust anyone—least of all, himself?

Love is a curse and the con is the only answer in a game too dangerous to lose.

Review of Previous Book in Series: White Cat


Another great sequel from Holly Black! Continuing from the first book, Red Glove has excellent characterization. I love how Cassel really grows into his self-confidence as a caster while figuring out the plots and twists of the people around him. The twist of Lila's love and Cassel's rejection of the fake as a poor substitute for the real is a great and realistic action for all the parties involved, and it injects the cliche'd sub-plot of "girl likes boy but boy rejects girl" with a fresh point of view, especially with all its unexpected developments. I loved watching the struggle of Cassel trying to figure out morality in a criminal family. And the plot resolution is unexpected yet well tied together. I can't wait for the next book in the series!

Events

I had a blast at Dragon*Con and the Decatur Book Festival, so I want to tell you about a new event where you can meet authors and hear them speak about writing, their books, and what inspires them:



Y'All Fest is a book event/festival for Young Adult authors in Charleston, SC. I'd really love to go, it's been 10 years since I've been to Charleston and I'd love to see the city again, especially if it also gives me the opportunity to see some amazing authors like Beth Revis, Carrie Ryan, Sarah Rees Brennan, Victoria Schwab, Saundra Mitchell, Diana Peterfreund, Caitlin Kittredge, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. I'm sure it will prove to be an amazing time!


The second thing I want to tell you about is the book blogger awards, the Cybils:



Nominations for books are coming soon. I am having such a hard time deciding what to nominate! I've also thrown my hat in the ring for judging the Sci-Fi and Fantasy category. I don't think I'll get it, my blog is so new and I've been neglectful of reviews lately, but maybe it will give me better chances next year :D


Speaking of reviews, I've added a new book list to the left side bar: waiting on review. I've read so many books this year that the reviews are piling up, but I can never motivate to finish editing and posting them. I'm gonna be more diligent about that for the next few weeks, and I may post a few one-paragraph quick reviews to get back on track.