Cart and Cwidder, by Diana Wynne Jones

Wandering players show up a lot in MG fiction, but this one's actually good. Our main character is the youngest son in the family of traveling minstrels, so we see them in much, much more detail than the normal archetype. In fact, the only one who sort of fits that is the father... but the protagonist discovers another side of his before the end of the book.

No, these wandering players aren't a means to take the hero from place to place. Well, actually, they are. (Though their passenger isn't really the hero... but he's still more than he seems.) They're more. We nod at their bringing news from town to town. We feel for the kids trying to keep the show on the road after several chapters have left them by themselves. And then, we see the songs actually come true... to the surprise of the protagonist himself.

Did I mention there's a plot? Did I mention a war and a revolution? At another time, Diana Wynne Jones wrote a very fun Romeo and Juliette; this's her Common Sense (or Les Miserables part II; can anyone give me any famous old stories about revolutions?). And our young protagonist ends up in the thick of it, much to his surprise and chagrin.

There're three more books in this series; I've only started the second. I hope Diana Wynne Jones violated her custom and wrote at least one more about these same protagonists, because I want to hear more about them!

Age rec: MG and up. The mother actively regrets marrying her husband, but it's definitely kept clean and roundly viewed as a bad or at least sad thing.

Incarceron, still by Catherine Fisher

I couldn't help overhearing several scenes when Rina was listening to the audiobook. Between the interrupted wedding and the voyage to the end of the world, I decided to read this book myself. And yes, I got the paper version.

I politely listened while Finn was chained atop the road in the first chapter, but he altogether lost my sympathy when he sprung the trap. "Oh, great," I thought, "another amoral antihero." What restored my interest in Finn was when he freed Attia and left the gang - when he started standing up for morality against his environment! Sure, he falls back sometimes, but he's always trying to break his conscience free from its prison. That's what makes him a hero and a person I'd like to know.

But even before Finn's conscience, the book's environment grabbed me. Despite what Rina said last month, it isn't Victorian. It appears late-medieval. And that's nice and fun; it's almost the Standard Fantasy Environment. Except it isn't. The country isn't late-medieval, it's futuristic under the iron rule of kings who make everyone act and appear medieval! I like this. It adds another layer of depth; it stops me from cringing whenever characters say or do something anachronistic; it turns those times into character- or background-building moments! I still smile whenever I remember Claudia telling her servant, "Just put it through the washing machine. I'm sure you've got one somewhere."

As Rina said, the themes and setting and action more than make up for any deficiencies in characterization. She doesn't delve into themes as much as handle them - they come up naturally in the plot, and the characters address them as appropriate. We don't get any meditations on human nature; we see it in action and we see Claudia and Jared attempting to forge a solution which human nature won't instantly tear down.

And do they succeed? For that, we can see the sequel... I'll be reviewing that later this week, with more attention to the themes and characters.

Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta

This is one of the ones that I had no warning of before it came on the scene. I found it, believe it or not, while browsing Common Sense Media. Not, perhaps, the most common way of discovering books... but it worked the trick this time.

At the beginning of the book:

The kingdom of Lumatere was once a beautiful, prosperous land. But after a merciless coup and five days of civil war, one of the powerful Forest Dwellers {not elves - don't worry} curses the kingdom as she is dying. Impassable barriers of black mist rise to cut off Lumatere from the surrounding countries, trapping the people inside with the terrifying new king - and the refugees outside, with no chance of returning to their homes and families.
This book is the story of Finnikin, a nineteen-year-old boy who has spent the last ten years trying to find Balthazar, his childhood friend and the heir of the kingdom. When he makes a journey to meet a girl who claims to have dreamed of Balthazar, he finds strange new possibilities - and more hope than he's had for a decade.
Maybe the Lumaterans can return to their long-lost homes.


Writing: It doesn't get much better than this, frankly. Several scenes stand out even more brightly {I'm thinking of Evanjalin and Finnikin atop the cliff, shouting names into the valley; the sequence at the crossroads; and the entire last chapter}. Ms. Marchetta knows how to turn a word and a phrase, and her names are generally top-notch as well.
The plot is never confusing, though "packed" might be a good description. More happens in this one book, I think, than in a few trilogies out there. And there are surprises, which is why I left off early in the plot description {that and I'm bad at summaries}.
And as for the girls, this book has one of the strongest female characters that I've met since... Katniss. {All right, now I'm imagining Evanjalin and Katniss having an argument... I think I would leave the room if they did, for it would get very interesting very fast.}

Some quotes -

"Stand back, Evanjalin. You'll get hurt!"
"How long is this going to take, Finnikin? Ask them if they have food. You promised me roast pork."
Finnikin rolled his eyes as Moss swung from side to side, trying to dislodge him from his back. "Woman, I'm trying to fight here! Or has that escaped your attention?"

----

They traveled for what seemed hours and Froi truly thought it was night because it was so thick with trees and no light crept in. But then he saw the shine in the distance and the forest turned into a meadow, that was the word Sir Topher used, and the meadow had the tallest grass with so many yellow flowers that it hurt Froi's eyes to look at. But he didn't look away because it was a different kind of hurt, one he hadn't felt before and he found himself walking through the long grass and yellow flowers just to see what they felt like against his skin.
----

This book is definitely for the older teens - and the adults. I can't think of any reason an adult wouldn't like it. There's some content that makes me say fifteen-and-up readers, though that's not a hard-and-fast rule. {Mostly nothing described, but a number of references.}
Violence... yes. A lot. Not described lengthily, but described competently and clearly. The other reason this isn't for the young.
Morally, it's hard to tell whether the author condones the more questionable behavior in the book. I feel that she does not, especially the violence.
There are strong themes of hope, responsibility, mercy, and patriotism - with hope predominating. A good read for anyone mature enough. Check it out from the library first, as it might not be to everyone's taste... but the hardback cover is a work of art, if you decide to buy a copy later.

"Be prepared for the worst, my love, for it lives next door to the best."
-one Finnikin character quotes her father's favorite saying