Taken by Storm, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

A vivid, wrenching, entirely worthy conclusion to an excellent trilogy.

Take everything we've seen from Ms. Barnes before in this series and mark it up by fifty percent - the violence, the emotional impact, the shocking plot twists - then reduce the size of the book by a fourth, and you'll have this speed-reading terror of a foil-bound trilogy-closer. (I'm going to be speaking about it as though it's the end of the the series; it has a definite ring of finality to it that I hope goes undisturbed, and from what I've heard on the author's site, it will.)



If anyone's reading this and doesn't know the first two books... click on the "shapeshifters" tag and find my reviews of them. Here we have Bryn, the human girl raised by a werewolf pack after the murder of her parents... Bryn, who has by this book grown up a good deal and taken her own very unique place in her raw, wild, and dangerous world.

I'm saying very little here, to avoid spoilers. Because trust me, for this book, you don't want'm. I was on the metaphorical edge of my seat the whole time. Suffice to say that a long-held question of mine was answered, one of Evan's predictions came true that I didn't believe would, and one of my predictions did as well. Two plot points that we both expected also occurred. Not that I'm saying this book is predictable - I was eeping the whole while.

There will almost certainly be a few points at which you will beg, "Don't let it end like this!"
Almost certainly a few to the tune of, "Is there honestly a way out of this?"
Wordless exclamations are also not inappropriate at many spots.

I'm not entirely positive what I think of Callum's prescience as a plot device. It may have annoyed me... I'm honestly not sure whether it did or not. On the other hand, it annoys other characters, too.

For those of you who read Hunger Games, you'll probably come to notice that Ms. Barnes has jumped on the "surprise chapter endings" bandwagon. I'm not un-sorry. But I did have to cover a few endings with my hand because my nervous eye has a tendency to jump ahead of my reading.

(I just turned on Handel's "Messiah" again. I think I did this writing the review of the first book, too. I detect a trend here?)

Age rec: This is going to stop all of nobody, but probably fifteen and up? And up? (chuckles nervously) Just for violence and some slightly disturbing scenes related to same. Unlike the previous two books, I found some parts of this one uncomfortable. Trust me - not because of the romance, so for any of you who worried that the third book would involve flagrant indecency, lay your minds at rest. [I am about to slightly qualify that last statement with a very indefinite and small spoiler that avoids naming names: One of the characters becomes pregnant while unmarried, but the fact alone is established onstage, without any indecent content in sight.]

Bottom line: The promise held out in the first two books is amply fulfilled and then some.

Blood Red Road, by Moira Young

How I found this book: I don't know - one too many people on the blogworld talking about it? So I stuck it on the holdlist. I'm not quite sure why, to tell you the truth! But I'm ever so glad I did.

Book, in a nutshell:
Saba is relentlessly loyal to her twin brother Lugh. So when raiders take him, for reasons unknown to her at the time, and leave her father dead behind them, she goes off after him - along with her much younger sister Emmi. Her attempts to rid herself of the inconvenient Emmi fail, and her search for Lugh goes hardly better. After she ends up in the cage-fighting ring in Hopetown, she finds information about Lugh's captors - and a band of girls who might be able to save both her and him.
But there's more than a brother at stake in this wind-swept world.

I loved this book. It's a first-person narration, in dialect, without quotation marks - could have been a deal-breaker, but no - I actually liked it. Though the um, informal narration was a bit confusing at times. (If you thought that Katniss's narration in Hunger Games was annoying at all, don't even try this one.)
I love the way Saba's going after Lugh - I have got a brother, and I know what she means with the whole business. I love the developing relationship between her and her little sister, as they grow to understand each other better. I love that the little sister is a very good character in her own right - she does at least as much growing in this story as anyone else.

Most of all, unlike so many of the dystopian and post-apocolyptic books these days, this one's got hope. The world's messed up, but there are solutions, and people are effective to find them.

There is no such word as can't for this lot. Recapture kidnapped brother? Worth a try. Find your way across the desert? Why not. Dash into a burning building to save a friend? Let's go. Fight blind clawed lizards at night in a dry lakebed? Go for it. Escape from bondage in the cage fighting? Sounds likely to me. Find a new way on the spur of the moment when everything goes wrong? Can do. Change the shape of society? Might as well.

And, though the whole "magic-stone" thing is a little blatantly obvious - just a little - I approve of the obligatory love interest. For once, I actually can figure out what the protagonist sees in him!

Age rec: Unfortunately, there is a lot of strong language. A lot. And though there's nothing actually indecent, some hints. I might as well reassure readers, though - there wasn't anything that happened that offended me, so I'll save you the worries you might have at some points. It's not as "nice" as Chime but much "nicer" than Finnikin of the Rock: I would say fourteen, fifteen and up.

Waiting on Wednesday: Froi of the Exiles, by Melina Marchetta

Yes... I love Finnikin of the Rock... it's a terrific novel. Blog-readers probably already know I think that. The eponymous Finnikin does get on my nerves to a degree, but the book's amazing, and Evanjalin... well, she's amazing too, isn't she?

And then I learned that there would be more coming up!

Now, when I think of books that require sequels, Finnikin isn't usually on the list. In fact, one of my favorite things about it is how it's so complete and self-contained. But if Ms. Marchetta wants to write more about our favorite lot of Lumaterans, far be it from me to refuse! Even though, from what I've heard, this book isn't set in Lumatere, maybe we'll get a look at our old friends before Froi travels off. And from the sound of the blurb, there will be a mighty adventure upcoming.

(From the author's website - Amazon hasn't got one up yet)
----

Blood sings to blood …

Those born last will make the first …

For Charyn will be barren no more.

Three years after the curse on Lumatere was lifted, Froi has found his home ... or so he believes. Fiercely loyal to the Queen and Finnikin, Froi has been taken roughly and lovingly in hand by the Guard sworn to protect the royal family, and has learned to control his quick temper with a warrior’s discipline. But when he is sent on a secretive mission to the kingdom of Charyn, nothing could have prepared him for what he finds in its surreal royal court. Soon he must unravel both the dark bonds of kinship and the mysteries of a half-mad princess in this barren and mysterious place.

It is in Charyn that he will discover there is a song sleeping in his blood … and though Froi would rather not, the time has come to listen.

---

Oh, neeps, I can't wait. On the other side of winter, I hope, I shall be there, reading Froi of the Exiles (and angling to watch the Hunger Games movie).

Time Travel Tuesday: De Camp's Lest Darkness Fall

Imagine you found yourself sixth-century-AD Italy. Your first question's probably, "What was happening there then?" Next would be, "How do I learn Latin or Gothic?" Those matters dealt with, you'd be faced with a bigger question: would you settle for staying alive and perhaps relatively comfortable in that era as the remnants of Roman culture are falling apart around you, or would you try to improve things?

L. Sprague de Camp, a very prominent fantasy author in his day, has his protagonist choose the second. In Lest Darkness Fall, Prof. Martin Padway — fortunately, an archaeologist who's been studying that very period and knows the languages — finding himself in that situation, tries to prevent the Dark Ages from falling across Europe.

Problems dog his every effort to build up technology. Does he want to change the world? Well, first, he needs quick money. So, build a modern brewery. Well, he needs copper plate pipe. The coppersmith is able to make it - but Padway needs to stand over him telling him how to do every step. And then he needs to pay the smith with money borrowed at ruinous interest rates. Once that's all done, he needs to keep the autocratic (if generally benevolent) Ostrogoth kings from destroying his business (which, by now, includes a burgeoning newspaper publishing the gradually-improving work of Padway's trainee journalists).

It shouldn't have been a surprise that Padway was eventually arrested. When you make such waves in an autocratic kingdom, while behaving in such an obviously foreign manner, something's going to happen eventually. Still, it shocked me — a sign of how de Camp's storytelling had drawn me into Padway's brave efforts. Our hero emerges from the prison camp resolved that, if he can't safely ignore politics, he's going to interfere in them as much as he can!

Shocking people with his accurate knowledge of then-future events, Padway wins his way to leadership. He then proceeds to totally upset the traditions of the Ostrogoth kingdom, free the slaves, train a corp of archers in preparation for the Byzantine attack he knows is coming, and - finally - [SPOILER: final outcome] win the war.

The beginning of this story felt painful to me, but only because of a misconception: I'd confused it with another time travel story where the protagonist roundly fails at everything he tries. Once I realized that de Camp doesn't mind having Padway succeed, I watched his adventures with pleasure. I didn't know much about metalworking, journalism, telegraphy, or Ostrogothic politics, but de Camp explains everything so we can see the challenges before Padway and share in his triumph at surmounting them.

All in all, this is an appealing story for mature readers about a man trying to improve a previous age. Padway's goals aren't perfect, of course. He's quite cynical about religion and private morality; one of his taglines is, "I'm a Presbyterian; that's the closest thing to" [whatever denomination/heresy his interlocutor professes]. His private life doesn't infect his plans, though. I'm sure we'll all approve of advancing science and preventing the Dark Ages.

Time Travel Tuesday is inspired by Charlotte's Library's regular "Time Slip Tuesday." Yes, Charlotte, there are good time travel novels, even if not many more are being published today.

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