Book blogging (mostly)
Juvenile Fiction
Pitching Max Werner
23 weeks ago
Max Werner, 15, can see in the dark – a secret not even his best friend Tom knows. More sly than brave, Max has used his special gift for years to roam the streets of his neighborhood committing petty crimes and various acts of harmless delinquency. He prefers hiding from danger, safe in the shadows that only his sight can penetrate, rather than confronting anything head on.
His misdeeds bring him more than a few stolen goods, however, when he runs across a band of inhuman thieves that don’t take kindly to Max invading their territory. These strange bandits kidnap Max’s little sister as punishment for his indiscretion, forcing him to put what little courage he does have to the test.
Afraid to make the rescue attempt alone, Max must first convince Tom to join the adventure. Even with his perfect night vision, the giant spiders, bottomless pits, and blood-thirsty criminals that stand between Max and his sister may mean that none of them make it out alive.
A Selective History of Max Werner is a young adult adventure for all those who have ever wondered what secrets lay in the deepest shadows, the blackest cave, or the darkest night.
Or so goes the pitch I’m submitting to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award later this month. It surprised me how difficult writing a pitch like this was. In 300 words or less I need to convince someone who knows absolutely nothing about my book that it’s worth reading more of.
How do I distill everything about the book into so few words? Well, unfortunately, I leave a lot out. No mention of the tension between Jenny (the sister), Max, and Tom, or the pet bird that Max rescues, or the footnotes that litter the book with ironic faux-history, or the evil Boss that leads the band of thieves and is the real villain of the book, or numerous other things that might spoil the story. All of it, gone.
Hopefully that will be enough to get me through to the second round, where the judges read the first 5,000 words of the book and can get a better taste of everything it has to offer. Hopefully! (If you have any suggestions for how I can improve the pitch, feel free to offer them below.)
In the meantime if you are interested in reading A Selective History of Max Werner you can find it on amazon. The Kindle version will be free as often as I can make it, so keep an eye on my twitter for when those deals go live. If you don’t have a Kindle eReader (or don’t want to wait until the next free offer) and want to check the book out, just leave a comment below or message me on twitter.
Special thanks to Jocelyn Mathewes for the amazing cover art.
The Dragon Rider
01 month ago
The Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke
My rating: 1 of 5 stars
I think it’s important to note that I listened to the audio version of this book because it is, without a doubt, the reason I disliked it so much. Funke’s story seems pretty good, and if I had read it, I imagine it would have been closer to 3 or 4 stars.
However, it must be said that the narrator Brendon Fraser is, unequivocally, the worst narrator I have ever heard in the 150+ audio books I have listened to over the last few years. Here are just a few examples of why he is so bad:
1. He smacks his lips and chews loudly when characters are eating.
2. He coughs, moans, grunts, squeals, etc. even when the text does not imply these things are happening.
3. When the text does note coughing, etc. he exaggerates them needlessly and tediously.
4. Every piece of dialogue is overacted and extravagant for no reason.
My guess is that Fraser doesn’t actually enjoy reading, and so he feels the need “spice up” the book in order to make it entertaining. Maybe others who don’t often read would enjoy this type of narration, but it was endlessly frustrating and nearly impossible to get through in spite of an interesting plot. If you are interested in this book, please don’t listen to the audio version.
Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories
21 year ago
I’ve never felt the need to defend the enjoyment I get out of reading science fiction or fantasy novels. As a result, though, I’ve never really considered what it is about these types of books that interests me so much. Fortunately, C.S. Lewis has, and in this collection of essays, he perfectly articulates why such stories are worth reading, writing, and discussing.
It’s not worth summarizing each of the essays here (they are so efficiently executed that it’s hard to trim anything out in summary), but there are a few points that Lewis makes that I want to highlight.
First, he repeatedly points out that, regardless of audience or subject matter, a good book is simply a good book. If it’s not good enough for adult’s to read, then why should our children? He also enjoys emphasizing the idea that one should not arbitrarily choose a genre, but should let the story dictate the best means of delivery. These are just two of the many points he raises, and I’m hardly doing them justice. Lewis brings so much warmth and humor to each essay that you should really just read them.
In addition to a collection of fascinating essays (see the number of times I had to mark a sentence or idea that I wanted to return to), Of Other Worlds also has several short stories and the beginning of an unfinished novel. While these stories were good, it was definitely the essays that make this collection worth reading.
This book has reminded me how much I love reading Lewis’ writing and, as a result, you’re probably going to be seeing a lot more posts about his works. Most of it will be nonfiction, not because it’s any better than his fiction, but just because I haven’t read most of it.
I recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading about literature, even if they hate science fiction or fantasy. I say this not because I think Lewis will convince you to suddenly start liking them, but because his humility and insight may increase your respect for these genres. It won’t make you want to read them, but it may help you understand where those of us who enjoy them so much are coming from.
“I am almost inclined to set up as canon that a children’s story which is enjoyed only by children is a bad children’s story” (24).
“When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up” (25).
Finnikin of the Rock
41 year ago
We interrupt your regularly scheduled episode of “Talk About How Long The Tale of Genjii Is” to bring you this post on Finnikin of the Rock. (I actually finished this a few weeks ago, and just didn’t get around to writing about it.)
I’ll admit that I’m a sucker for a good story. The Hunger Games isn’t the most sophisticated piece of literature, but it was a lot of fun to read, and it does contain quality writing. A good story, however, isn’t enough to make me overlook major flaws in a novel.
You may not have seen this coming but, in spite of its promising plot, Finnikin of the Rock has far too many flaws for me to overlook. Finnikin, the son of the captain of the guard, is from Lumatere. Ten years ago, however, his homeland was cursed, and since then no one has been able to cross its boundaries, either in or out.
Like I said, this is definitely a promising story. Unfortunately, between a lack of consistency in the geography of the world, and flat, boring characters there isn’t much else to like about this book.
Speaking of boring characters, why can’t any of them communicate like normal human beings? Why do they always have to jump to conclusions, and flee from each other at the slightest (assumed) offense? The School Library Journal review on Amazon.com calls Finnikin and Evanjalin’s relationship “intensely emotional”. I think a better description is “annoyingly unrealistic” or “frustratingly devoid of reason”. It’s not a good sign when even The Tale of Genji, in which characters purposefully obfuscate their language by speaking in ancient Chinese poetry, has more open communication.
Suffice it to say, I don’t recommend Finnikin of the Rock. If you could consider the plot apart from the characters, no doubt you would be able to find some moments to enjoy, but those pesky characters just keep getting in the way.
Full Database entry on Finnikin of the Rock. Beware spoilers.
Goose Girl (Audio)
101 year ago
Goose Girl is not the type of book that would normally catch my eye. However, after reading Christy’s review of the sequel I figured it would be worth requesting from the library and listening to it when I got the chance. I had it for a few weeks and, honestly, I didn’t have a plan to start it anytime soon until I saw Erin’s claim that Shannon Hale “has not written a bad book”.
Convoluted story of why I started reading it aside, I’m really glad that I did. Goose Girl seems pretty straight forward at first – a crowned princess of a small kingdom is, unbeknownst to her, about to be sent off to marry the prince of a distant kingdom. As the story progressed, though, I was consistently impressed both with the number of times the plot surprised me and with how well-realized the world and characters were.
True, I’ve only read one book by Shannon Hale now, but I can see why Erin would say she hasn’t written a bad book. In addition to a consistent, deep world full of entertaining characters, Goose Girl is also filled with some beautiful writing. Even the first line (“She was born Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildinree, and she did not open her eyes for three days”) has a sense of weight and meaning that I find appealing.
My only real complaint was with the audio production. Instead of having a single narrator, this book had a full cast. I don’t mind this on principal, but with so many actors participating, it’s inevitable that some of the performances will not be as good as others. Ultimately, instead of enhancing the experience, the unevenness of the performances just made me wish the main narrator (who was excellent) had been responsible for everything.
I recommend this book without reservation. Don’t let the title (and in some cases the unfortunate covers) convince you that this is a book only for girls. Anyone who is willing to read a fairy tale based fantasy will be able to appreciate Hale’s quality story telling.
The Light – Morpheus Road Book 1
21 year ago
I love reading young adult fiction while on vacation. Last Christmas I tore through The Hunger Games in less then 36 hours, and it was absolutely fantastic. I didn’t know much about The Light, but I have listened to the first three books in MacHale’s Pendragon series, and they are good enough that I was willing to give this new series a chance.
The Light is, ultimately, a ghost story. In fact, the book starts with a hip “I believe in ghosts now” intro. From there, it follows Marsh, the main character and narrator, as he attempts to solve the various mysteries surrounding his haunting and his best friend’s disappearance.
While The Light was the fun, light reading I was looking for in a vacation book, it was also extremely disappointing. In spite of having an entirely different storyline and cast of characters, The Light felt exactly the same as the Pendragon books. In fact, in terms of the main character, there wasn’t anything to distinguish Marsh from Bobby Pendragon.
MacHale certainly isn’t a bad writer, but I’m starting to get the impression that his versatility is severely limited. If you aren’t absolutely in love with novels narrated by smart, sarcastic, angsty 15 year olds, who are just trying to figure out this crazy world, then I wouldn’t bother with The Light, or anything else written by MacHale.
It’s unfortunate, too, because he has some great plot ideas. I may even continue listening to the books in this series, just to find out what happens next, but I definitely won’t be reading them next time. Is that hypocritical, to continue reading a series that I won’t recommend? Perhaps, but I am a sucker for a cliffhanger.
Unwind
21 year ago
I learned about Unwind from a coworker whose son was reading it for school. Apparently there was some controversy among the parents. Having just finished Don Quixote I figured this would be great light reading to bridge the gap before vacation. While easy to read, this definitely wasn’t exactly the light reading I had expected.
Unwind is set in a dystopian future in which America has fought its second civil war. Only this time, the fighting was over abortion. The war eventually ended with the signing of the Bill of Life. According to this document all life was protected from conception to the age of 13. From 13 to 18 a parent could choose to retroactively unwind their children. Unwind follows the story of 3 children who are set to be Unwound.
Unwind is full of interesting ideas and deals with the difficult subject of abortion with subtlety. However, the writing itself is just mediocre. It is worth reading if you want to start a discussion on abortion with a teen, but probably not otherwise.
In fact, the most interesting thing for me in regards to Unwind was finding the parallels between it and Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal (an essay in which Swift satirically encourages the Irish to eat their children in order to alleviate poverty). I would say more here, but I don’t want to spoil anything if you are interested in reading Unwind. Feel free to check out the last 2 paragraphs of my database entry for the details, though.
What suprised me the most, however, was that this would be picked for school reading. What do you think – is this appropriate high school reading?
Full database entry on Unwind. Beware spoilers.
P.S. I wrote this on my iPhone so please forgive any typos or weird formatting.
The Book of Three (Audio)
41 year ago
I can’t exactly remember who or what referred me to The Book of Three. All I know is a few weeks ago I received a “the book you placed on hold is now available” email from the library and so I went and picked it up.
The Book of Three tells the story of a young assistant pig-keeper named Taran who lives in a mythical realm known as Prydain. If you have seen the movie “The Black Cauldron” you have seen a movie loosely based on this book. (Interesting note – the second book in this trilogy is actually called The Black Cauldron, but the movie of the same title is based on the first book. Go figure). Anyways, Taran has to recover his lost pig, but ends up having a grand adventure along the way.
The story is your classic hero quest, but what makes this book so good is the plethora of interesting characters. From the sassy and hilarious Eilonwy, to the pathological liar/bard/king Fflewddur Fflam, The Book of Three is absolutely bursting with entertainment. By the end, the story was just a means for placing these great characters into situations in which they could interact with each other. That isn’t to say the story was boring, but the dialogue was by far the star of the show.
I highly recommend this (the narrator is excellent on the audio book, but I’m sure actually reading it would be just as good) to anyone who enjoys lighthearted fantasy. Personally, I can’t wait to read the next book in the series if for no other reason than to see what everyone is up to next.
Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary
01 year ago
First of all, I apologize for the recent lack of updates. Between traveling, Easter, and being sick I’ve been reading a lot, but not writing much. I have a nice little backlog of finished books, though, so hopefully I’ll be able to catch up and post some more over the next few weeks.
Now onto Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary. I don’t actually know what else I can say about the Fablehaven books that I haven’t said previously. They are fun, creative, exciting books that are perfect when you want something that is well executed, but does not requiring extensive emotional investment.
I guess the most important thing I can share with you at this point is as of the 4th (and penultimate) volume in the series, they are still very enjoyable. I didn’t find myself captivated quite as quickly with this book as I have with the first 3, but I ended up there eventually. So, if you are a fan of fun juvenile fiction that mixes magic and realistically developed characters, give the Fablehaven series a shot. And if you have been reading the series, send me an email so we can make up wild theories about how the series will end.
“’What am I supposed to do with this?’ Kendra asked, pulling the knife out.
‘Stab’, Seth suggested.”
Full Database entry on Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary. Beware Spoilers
39 Clues & a Giant Peach (Audio)
21 year ago
I just finished 2 more audio books in the last week: James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl and The Black Circle (The 39 Clues Book 5) by Patrick Carman.
First up – James and the Giant Peach. This is another book that I’m sure I read dozens of times when I was growing up (or at least had read to me dozens of times), but had no clear memory of. Obviously there was a giant peach involved, and I thought I remembered it flying, or something, but that was about it.
If you are in the same boat, you really should pick this up and give it a read. It would probably take a couple hours at most, but it will be a fun, refreshing two hours. It’s obvious why this imaginative, exciting book is considered a children’s classic.
Though James is entertaining in his role as the titular character, it is his giant insect friends who make the book. I caught myself laughing out loud at their antics all the way up to the end.
As for the audio side of this audio book, Jeremy Irons is wonderful. He brings each of the characters to life and captures the light-hearted tone of the book perfectly. If you get a chance to listen to this one, don’t pass it up.
The 39 Clues fascinates me as a marketing strategy. If you aren’t aware of this series, it tells the story of Dan and Amy Cahill as they partake in a worldwide scavenger hunt to find 39 clues that will make them the most powerful people in the world. There are currently 7 books in the series, with an 8th due in April.
I say it’s fascinating from a marketing perspective because of several reasons. First of all, at the rate the books are going so far, they are on pace to have 39 in the series. That’s right, 39 – one for each of the clues Dan and Amy are searching for.
Another interesting aspect of these books is that they aren’t all written by the same author. My guess is in order to keep them fresh, and to turn them out fast enough, they have multiple authors working on subsequent books simultaenously. This, of course, means that they aren’t all as high quality as the first one (written by the talented Rick Riordan), and that they don’t all capture the exact same tone and style. So far, however, this hasn’t been too problematic. I imagine a lot of that is helped by the fact that so far all 5 books have been performed by the same narrator – David Pittu. His consistent voice probably helps smooth over many of the more subtle stylistic differences between authors.
There is also a card game associated with the series, but I don’t know anything about it. Suffice it to say, this is the most strategic, financially motivated books series I’ve ever read. But is it any good? Yeah, it is good. At least, it’s as good as the author who pens the current book. As I said above, Rick Riordan is talented, as is Patrick Carman who wrote book 5. However, this can’t be said for them all (in particular, book 3 by Peter Lerangis comes to mind as low point).
I’m also not sure how I feel about creating a series for children that has so many requirements for spending money. I’m capable of handling it as an adult (and checking them all out at the library helps), but if I kid were to get into the series, they would be wanting every book as soon as it comes out, plus all the trading cards, etc. At the same time, if it can keep children reading, it is doing something right so I probably shouldn’t complain.
Plus, in terms of tone and themes, the books deal with difficult problems with sophistication. For example, Dan and Amy are often tempted to behave the way the others in the contest do (lie, cheat, steal to get ahead), and they reflect upon these temptations with honesty. Sometimes they give in, and when they do they know they have made a mistake. It’s encouraging to see lessons like this being taught, no matter the cause that drives the books to be published.
Still, I don’t think I would recommend these to everyone I meet without reservation. They aren’t masterpieces, and in most cases there are books by the same authors that are better. However, if you enjoy juvenile fiction, long-running series, and world travel this might be right up your alley.
On another note, does anyone have any other young adult books to recommend? I’m starting to run out of audio books at the library…