an inheritance of ashes

Many of the books that have shaped my reading life in profound ways have maps at the start. Before the reader finds any text they are invited to pore over the landscape of a fantasy world. There might be bordering countries, or a region, or a large city with all of its crooked streets picked out. Topographical details may be sparse or plentiful.  Whatever the case, these maps usually herald my favorite sort of story: A journey, a courageous hero or heroine, and triumph over evil/survival/happily ever after to top things off.

When I picked up Leah Bobet’s An Inheritance of Ashes, all I knew about it was that I loved the author’s previous book, Above, and that it was set at end of the world. When I leafed through the pages and saw a map at the start, I had a good feeling – and the book did not disappoint. An Inheritance of Ashes is beautiful, fierce, sad, and by far my favorite of all of the books I’ve read in the past year.

Six months ago, the men of the lakelands marched south to fight a dark god.

Weeks after the final battle was won, sixteen-year-old Hallie and her sister, Marthe, are still struggling to maintain their family farm—and are waiting for Marthe’s missing husband to return. After a summer of bitter arguments, Hallie is determined to get Roadstead Farm through the winter—and keep what’s left of her family together, despite an inheritance destined to drive them apart.

But when Hallie hires a wandering veteran in a bid to save the farm, every phantom the men marched south to fight arrives at her front gate. Spider-eyed birds circle the fields, ghostly messages writes themselves on the riverbank, and soon Hallie finds herself keeping her new hired hand’s despite desperate secrets—and taking dangerous risks. But as she fights to keep both the farm and her new friend safe, ugly truths about her own family are emerging—truths that, amid gods, monsters, and armies, might tear Roadstead Farm apart.

Leah Bobet’s stark, beautiful fantasy explores the aftermath of the battles we fight and the slow, careful ways love can mend broken hearts—and a broken world.

This is the story of a family.  This is the story of the aftermath of war.  This is the story of a battle on the homefront.  This is the story of survival generations after the apocalypse.  This is a story about a teenage girl.  This is a story about fear.  This is a story about breaking apart and (maybe, eventually) healing.  All of these statements are true, but they don’t tell you everything.

Hallie Hoffman is sixteen, and half-owner of Roadstead Farm.  She and her pregnant sister Marthe are trying (and mostly failing) to hold themselves together in the wake of the war against the Wicked God – a war that took Marthe’s husband Thom, along with any innocence they had left.  When she hires a traveling veteran, Hallie doesn’t expect it to spark anything, except maybe a prayer of keeping up with the farm chores.  Secrets old and new follow, endangering and changing Hallie, Roadstead Farm, and their world.

Did that sound suitably ominous? The book isn’t all death and destruction – it’s a nice mix of tension with bits of light. The prologue made me cry in public, and that’s when I knew for sure that the book would wreck me. Things I liked? A) Hallie and Marthe’s messy sister relationship, and how that played into everything Hallie said and did throughout the story. B) The reality of broken relationships, and the saving grace of kindness, forgiveness, and second chances.   C) A romantic relationship that was authentic to the setting, the characters, and the crazy situation. D) The immediacy and intimacy of the setting, without sacrificing big-picture world-building.

That last paragraph covered things I liked. Let’s go deeper (really dig in to Why this book is perfect):

1. Diversity! Included! In! The text! Like it’s no big deal! (spoiler alert: it’s 2016. this is the kind of YA SFF book i want/need)

2. Craft. The writing is just superb – not only poetic (it is, in a way that screams TRUTH while the emotion it evokes absolutely rends your heart) but intricately arranged for maximum impact – no word or detail is left orphaned.  An Inheritance of Ashes is a masterwork.  It is not only gripping and fantastically entertaining, but beautiful, in the way that Gregorian chants, or ancient temples, or roads thousands of years old are (to me).  The sheer work that went into fitting every word like a puzzle piece to make a whole, of showing a little bit, but never letting on too much or boring the reader… is awe-inspiring. 

I do not kid myself that An Inheritance of Ashes will appeal to everyone (it won’t, books never do in the end), but I know I can’t be alone in thinking that this book is just… art.  ART, in all capital letters. Thinking about it makes me want to do better, and be better.  It’s freaking inspiring.

Recommended for: those who enjoy science fiction and fantasy, and anyone who likes strong characters and spellbinding plot in equal measure.

p.s. Dear Leah Bobet, In case it wasn’t 100% clear, I’m a fan for life. Thank you.  –Me  

love in the time of global warming

Anticipation is one of the constants of my book blogging life.  When I began blogging lo, these many years ago (okay, fine, five and a half years!), I looked around to see what the community was doing.  A weekly event called Waiting on Wednesday (WoW) drew my attention, and I’ve been participating on and off ever since.  It’s all about finding books that aren’t released yet and highlighting them while you wait for the release date to come around.  Since then, I’ve been much more aware of what books are coming, when, and whether I’m interested or not.  A year and a half ago when I saw Francesca Lia Block's Love in the Time of Global Warming cover art and heard Greek mythology, retelling, and post-apocalyptic in combination, I coveted it.  Now, after no less than three library fines and several ultimatums to myself (I’ll finish it by Tuesday!), I’ve finally read it.

A stunning reimagining of Homer's Odyssey set in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, written by a master storyteller. 

Seventeen-year-old Penelope (Pen) has lost everything—her home, her parents, and her ten-year-old brother. Like a female Odysseus in search of home, she navigates a dark world full of strange creatures, gathers companions and loses them, finds love and loses it, and faces her mortal enemy. 

In her signature style, Francesca Lia Block has created a world that is beautiful in its destruction and as frightening as it is lovely. At the helm is Pen, a strong heroine who holds hope and love in her hands and refuses to be defeated.

Pen lives in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles.  Two months after an earthquake opened a huge gash in the earth, and the sea came rushing up to her house, she’s still hiding from the broken world outside, surviving on stockpiled canned goods.  She hasn’t seen her family since the disaster, and fears the worst...  When her fragile denial and ‘peace’ is broken, Pen must venture out into a changed landscape.  She will see unbelievable things, meet mythical creatures, mine her strengths, and adopt a dangerous quest, all in the name of love.  Whether or not she comes home again will be a matter of will, of luck, of the strengths of her companions, and a bit of magic.

My summary above makes this book sound rather concrete!  I’m actually proud that I could distill it down from concepts and allusions and magical realism into something that makes linear sense.  Warning: Love in the Time of Global Warming does not make much sense, in a traditional plot sort of way.  Yes, it is about a journey that mirrors Odysseus’ in The Odyssey.  But.  This version of the story is full of flashbacks and foresight to other times, musings on art and its importance even in a world where survival is paramount, queer identity, being good to the earth, and possible gifts/powers that have sprung up amid the desolation.  All of those things overwhelm the ‘journey’ thread, making the book seem more like a series of related vignettes.  The effect is fable-ish.

Pen herself is a confused, grieving teen with a bent toward the fantastic.  Her mind loops around a blend of memory, religion, art, symbolism, and story, and in the midst of it all Pen finds pieces of herself that weren’t evident in life ‘Before.’  While she occupies the post of narrator, she’s not always the central figure in the tale.  I found myself frustrated in the extreme with this Pen-narrated, unfocused storytelling.  Experiences had a vague quality to them, so even though the end of the world sounded terrible, it never made it into my mind’s eye.  In addition, the themes of sexuality, gender, and addiction were never fully explored.  I could tell that the book was making statements, but I felt as though I was being asked to unravel a muddle that could have been made explicit.  Feeling stupid while reading makes me grumpy, folks.

In the end, I have found two ways to describe this book: one is kind, the other one… honest.  Feel free to take your pick.  1) Love in the Time of Global Warming is an elliptical, fantastical tale that takes on the theme of identity and claims art and love above all. 2) Love in the Time of Global Warming is a book that tries very hard to be meaningful, but in the end feels like reading an extended nightmare or drug-addled dream.  As I said… take your pick.

Recommended for: readers who like trippy fantasy and sci-fi as long as it is pretty (and for whom coherency is not a number one priority).

waiting on wednesday (65)

Today I’m participating in "Waiting On" Wednesday, a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. Its purpose is to spotlight upcoming book releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Dear Everyone: Sci-Fi Dystopia/Western with Aliens and Mystery is my jam.  I mean, I saw Cowboys & Aliens in the theater on opening weekend.  And not just because of Harrison Ford and/or Daniel Craig, either.  I've never heard of a premise quite like this one in young adult lit, and I'm unbelievably excited to see what it looks like.  How will the author play with a landscape outside the laws of nature, with an 'infinite sunset?'  Just how terrifying is the alien going to be?  Plagues of fishes and ravenous bears, oh my!  Philip Webb’s Where the Rock Splits the Sky will be released by Chicken House on March 25, 2014.

The moon has been split, and the Visitors have Earth in their alien grip, but Megan just might be able to free the planet--if only she can survive the deadliest desert crossing. 

The world stopped turning long before Megan was born. Ever since the Visitors split the moon and stilled the Earth, infinite sunset is all anyone has known. But now, riding her trusty steed Cisco, accompanied by her posse, Kelly and Luis, Megan ventures out of her Texas hometown and sets off on a journey across the vast, dystopic American West in search of her father. To find him, she must face the Zone. Laws of nature do not apply to the notorious landscape. Flying towns, rivers of dirt, plagues of fishes, ravenous bears: The desert can play deadly tricks on the mind, and the quest will push Megan past her limits. But to solve the mystery of not just her missing father but of the paralyzed planet itself, she must survive it--and a showdown with an alien.

What books are you waiting on?

for darkness shows the stars

Here’s something that will surprise exactly no one: my favorite Jane Austen novel is Persuasion.  I may have mentioned it a couple of times on the blog (not obsessed at all…).  It has been my favorite Austen book ever since I read it during my freshman year of college.  I reread it regularly, and I think Anne and Captain Wentworth’s story is not only timeless, but that with its inner tension and repressed desire, the romance is absolutely swoon-worthy.

We’ve established my longtime love of Persuasion.  When I heard that Diana Peterfreund was writing a sci-fi retelling of my Austen favorite, I might have flipped out.  Danced around the room?  Definitely had a huge grin on my face.  To quote myself from a ‘Waiting on’ Wednesday post, “It’s going to be SO GOOD! And you don't even know how tempted I am to use multiple exclamation points there.”  Without further ado: For Darkness Shows the Stars.

Generations ago, a genetic experiment gone wrong—the Reduction—decimated humanity, giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Eighteen-year-old Luddite Elliot North has always known her place in this caste system. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family’s estate over love. But now the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress and threatening Luddite control; Elliot’s estate is floundering; and she’s forced to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth—an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliott wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she abandoned him.

But Elliot soon discovers her childhood friend carries a secret—one that could change the society in which they live…or bring it to its knees. And again, she’s faced with a choice: cling to what she’s been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she’s ever loved, even if she has lost him forever.

Inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion, For Darkness Shows the Stars is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.

A post-apocalyptic world that was decimated generations ago by genetic-level malfunction (and then worldwide warfare) is now ruled in name by the Luddite community, who shun technology and innovation as the cause of humanity's downfall.  Elliot North is born into that world a Luddite, given a privileged upbringing and education, and handed far more responsibility than she is ready to handle.  Her best friend Kai was born a servant and worked long hours on the North estate.  When Elliot refused to run away with him Kai left on his own, and now, several years later, he has returned to the estate – but not to Elliot, and not as Kai.  What follows is a deeply romantic story of redemption, forgiveness, and unlooked-for progress that might just tear a society apart.

Better to get it out in the open: if you’ve read Persuasion, you know how this ends.  But that doesn’t make the journey, or Diana Peterfreund’s prose, any less wondrous.  Peterfreund has developed a reputation for writing nuanced female characters who face unimaginable challenges.  In Elliot, I think she has created her best heroine yet – a girl who is bound by responsibility but pines for passion, who is unappreciated by her peers but continues to do what is RIGHT.  It’s not that she’s miraculous or angelic – she’s just doing the best she can in a strange, fractured world.

The story’s focus on thought life lends itself to descriptions of the characters’ pent-up emotion and their mingled misery and hope.  For Darkness Shows the Stars is full of that, but it never loses itself in the description, nor does the pace or tension lag.  The narrative is broken up in parts by letters and notes passed between Elliot and Kai over the years, but these add to the story, providing important ‘flashbacks’ and insight into the characters’ pasts, revealing the patterns and prejudices that shape their personalities.

Peterfreund’s sci-fi is thin on science but heavy on the consequences of that science (definition: post-apocalyptic).  Her descriptions of life in a Luddite-ruled world are both detailed and chilling, and remind the reader that humans are both good AND evil.  When you’re in the midst of reading it will feel too possible.  In all, I believe that For Darkness Shows the Stars is a masterfully written novel that explores the nature of love, duty and evolution, while showing that true feeling will find a way to survive.

Recommended for: fans of the Jane Austen original, Anne Osterlund’s Academy 7, and anyone with a soft spot for extremely well-written sci-fi/fantasy that seethes with romantic tension while at the same time exploring themes of future, ethics, duty, and hanging onto the past at the expense of the present.

Fine print: I received a signed, finished copy of For Darkness Shows the Stars from the publisher for review at Book Expo America.  

rot & ruin

Zombie novels. You’ve heard about them (many on this very blog!). They’re taking a bite out of the competition. SORRY! I had to do it – the jokes are just there, waiting to be told. But seriously, what has brought them out of the relative obscurity of horror (again, no offense meant), and plopped them into mainstream young adult literature, one of the fastest growing markets in publishing?

I think that part of the answer is that a good zombie story asks big questions, questions that everyone ponders when they realize that life isn’t simple, sweet or easy. What is humanity? What is the difference between a monster and a hero? What defines right, and what is evil? And what, if anything, can one person do to make the world a better place?

In the zombie-infested, post-apocalyptic America where Benny Imura lives, every teenager must find a job by the time they turn fifteen or get their rations cut in half. Benny doesn't want to apprentice as a zombie hunter with his boring older brother Tom, but he has no choice. He expects a tedious job whacking zoms for cash, but what he gets is a vocation that will teach him what it means to be human.

Benny Imura is an angry, unhappy, and fairly typical teen living behind a fence – a fence that fends off the zombie apocalypse. If it sounds crazy, it is a bit, but Jonathan Maberry brings the world of Rot & Ruin into immediate and vivid focus, and the reader is sucked into a tragic reality that makes a scary amount of sense. But in this story, nothing is as it seems, especially Benny’s brother Tom.

I think of this novel in terms of emotion. When we meet Benny, he is consumed by hatred. As his story progresses, he feels horror, disgust, despair, remorse, hope, and love – not necessarily in that order. It is a journey into adulthood, a loss of innocence, and a revelation of both the best and worse of humanity – and an ultimate adventure and survival story. It is gripping and important reading.

I want to tell you a little something about my reaction to this book, in case you’re not sure you want to delve into something bleak and zombified. It took me a year to start reading Rot & Ruin. It got fantastic reviews from people I trusted, but I still wasn’t sure I wanted to go deep into an apocalyptic setting. But I started it, and I was struck by the anger, genuine anger in Benny’s psyche that bleeds through the writing. And THEN my dad stole my paperback while he and my mom were visiting. He was so engrossed that I knew it wasn’t just me – this was a special book. And after that, it was just a matter of finding time to finish the story.

Recommended for: fans of coming-of-age sagas and Patrick Ness’ The Knife of Never Letting Go, readers of all generations, guys and girls, zombie and apocalypse enthusiasts, and anyone who has wondered if they have the capacity for the extraordinary inside themselves.