in other lands

I am on the best sort of streak right now – I’ve been reading one lovely book after another! And the latest in line is Sarah Rees Brennan’s In Other Lands, an affectionate send-up of popular fantasy tropes with lots of hilarity and snark added in. It’s gosh darn entertaining, and I kind of loved it a lot.

The Borderlands aren’t like anywhere else. Don’t try to smuggle a phone or any other piece of technology over the wall that marks the Border — unless you enjoy a fireworks display in your backpack. (Ballpoint pens are okay.) There are elves, harpies, and — best of all as far as Elliot is concerned — mermaids.

Elliot? Who’s Elliot? Elliot is thirteen years old. He’s smart and just a tiny bit obnoxious. Sometimes more than a tiny bit. When his class goes on a field trip and he can see a wall that no one else can see, he is given the chance to go to school in the Borderlands.

It turns out that on the other side of the wall, classes involve a lot more weaponry and fitness training and fewer mermaids than he expected. On the other hand, there’s Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle, an elven warrior who is more beautiful than anyone Elliot has ever seen, and then there’s her human friend Luke: sunny, blond, and annoyingly likeable. There are lots of interesting books. There’s even the chance Elliot might be able to change the world.

Elliott Schafer is a short, obnoxious know-it-all of thirteen when an agent of a magical school finds him and escorts him into the Borderlands. He’s glad to go because his home life is pretty terrible, and also: mermaids. And then it turns out that Serene-Heart-in-the-Chaos-of-Battle, a beautiful elven warrior, is in his cohort. So that’s alright. Still, Elliott has to grapple with: a tech-primitive world, a war-obsessed society, issues of gender, race, and sexuality, and the annoying existence of golden boy Luke Sunborn, Serene’s other best friend. In this portal fantasy-turned-parody Elliott’s years in magic school are formative, transformative, and endearingly comical.

I think the first and most important thing about this book is that it made me laugh, a lot, unexpectedly. I probably sounded like a demented loon, barking out a laugh every 5-10 minutes while reading, but the dialogue and Elliott’s inner narrative were just that good. Elliott is uncharitable, sarcastic, and dramatic – and he says everything that comes to mind. I guess you could call him unlikable (he certainly says and does some unlikable things), but I loved him immediately for identifying and highlighting uncomfortable truths, all while pointedly not observing the social niceties. I identified with him.

The second thing about this book is that like any good parody, it interrogated its source material (popular portal fantasy and fantasy fiction at large) and turned tropes on their heads. The elven matriarchal society and its unique prejudices served as a direct foil to the familiar paternalistic human Border Guard. Elliott’s pacifist stance in a military camp raised sometimes obvious questions about who gets to make the decisions and what sorts of actions we value. And as a desperately earnest believer in love, Elliott breaks his heart and makes romantic missteps with partners of both sexes instead of automatically finding his “one” soulmate. I also appreciated that a typical YA fantasy trope (dead/absent parents) was interrogated as well.

Weakness: the copyediting. This book originated as a serial online, and though it made a pretty serious jump to book form with aplomb, I found several errors. Still, that’s nothing when you’re in the flow and really enjoying a book. Which I was.

In Other Lands was ridiculously enjoyable. Although I know not every reader will love Elliott (or the book), I did. Sarah Rees Brennan has a knack for writing comedy, and this book is FUNNY and fun.

Recommended to: fans of science fiction and fantasy parodies (think Rainbow Rowell’s Carry On with 100% more snark), and anyone who likes portal fantasies, LGBTQ+ inclusive young adult fiction, and grappling with big questions while maintaining a sense of humor.

unspoken

I worry about stories like this.  I worry that they’ll fill up my heart and mind and ruin me for any other books ever.  Holly Black’s Curse Worker books felt this way – like an ache in your chest and a glitter explosion in your brain.  Intellectually I know it is not true, but it feels like Sarah Rees Brennan’s got my heart and soul tied up in knots.  I’m beginning to think she LIKES it.

Kami Glass is in love with someone she's never met—a boy she's talked to in her head since she was born. This has made her an outsider in the sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale, but she has learned ways to turn that to her advantage. Her life seems to be in order, until disturbing events begin to occur. There has been screaming in the woods and the manor overlooking the town has lit up for the first time in 10 years…

The Lynburn family, who ruled the town a generation ago and who all left without warning, have returned. Now Kami can see that the town she has known and loved all her life is hiding a multitude of secrets—and a murderer. The key to it all just might be the boy in her head. The boy she thought was imaginary is real, and definitely and deliciously dangerous.

Unspoken is about Kami.  And Jared.  Jared is Kami’s imaginary friend, and has been since she was a little girl.  Except he just became real.  And it turns out that he’s got a crazy family with issues.  Well that’s alright then, because Kami’s whole TOWN has issues, including but not limited to: sinister secrets, attempted murder, and, oh yeah, ritual animal killings in the woods behind Kami’s back garden. 

The story has all the makings of crazy, but it doesn’t go there (quite).  Instead, it’s wise-cracking, smart, emotional (oh lord, don’t get me started!), and has a gothic mystery at its heart that will take more than one book to unravel (see what i did there?  i warned you, like the good reading citizen that i am).  In the process, Kami, Jared and all of their friends and enemies have taken up residence within me.  You know, like good characters do. 

If I had to pick a ‘best part’ of the book, I’d point to the entire thing.  There’s Kami, who is determined to be a journalist and unafraid of looking silly.  Jared, who is in her head and may have dodgy motives.  Angela, Kami’s prickly best friend.  Ash, who is new and beautiful but confusing.  Rusty, Angela’s trusty brother.  Holly, a new friend.  The entire cast of characters in the village, PLUS Jared’s family and Kami’s family.  It should feel crowded, but instead it is just right.

Can I describe a book as painfully good and make you understand it in the best possible light?  Because Brennan has put me through something delicious and hilarious and dark, and I am not sure I’m ever going to be the same (also not sure i’m going to make it until the release date of Lynburn Legacy #2).  In fact, I am very sure that I’ll spend the next few weeks imagining what happens next, and urgently wishing for more of Sorry-in-the-Vale and magic and murders and epic soulmates.

Unspoken is marvelously entertaining, and I can’t recommend it enough.  It’ll definitely make an appearance on my ‘Best of 2012’ list.  Also a consideration: that lovely paper art cover.  It’ll look spiffy on your shelf.  Go get this book!

Recommended for: fans of fun, life and reading.  Maybe especially to those who like YA fantasy, but definitely not limited to them.   

Fine print: I received an e-ARC of this book for review (via NetGalley) from Random House, and I intend to buy an enormous box of Unspoken hardcovers for my friends for Christmas.  Friends: get excited.  Random House: you are genius for publishing this book.  The end.

recommended reading and giveaway winners

It's pretty clear that I loved Catherynne M. Valente's The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. That novel reawakened my sense of wonder and set me on a path of adventure. You should love it too, if you don't already. Why don't you already? You're cautious? Okay, I can work with that. Try a taste of Valente's writing before you commit to her book, and check out the prequel/companion novelette, The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland - For a Little While.

[illustration by Ana Juan, sole property of Tor/Macmillan]

If you're gearing up for September Zombies (or just plain enjoy good, creepy writing), there's nothing better than Queen of Atlantis, a fantastic short story by Sarah Reese Brennan. A little bit of death, a princess, a sacrifice and some mythology mixed together to create a bittersweet and beautiful tale. Check it.

And to round out Saturday on the blog, I present August and September contest winners:

Donna of Book Lovers Paradise won my Glow ARC giveaway

Mervi won my 600 followers giveaway

Melissa won my Norwegian Wood giveaway

and Ren of All By MySHELF won my All These Things I've Done giveaway

Congratulations, winners! Stay tuned next week for another contest opportunity!

teaser tuesday (62)

It's Teaser Tuesday, a bookish blog meme hosted every week by MizB of Should Be Reading. Here's how it works:

Grab your current read and let it fall open to a random page (or if you're reading on an electronic device, pick a random number and scroll to that section). Post two or more sentences from that page, along with the book title and author. Share your find with others in the comments at Should Be Reading, and don't give anything vital away!

“Ashley was the only one who could see the difference between what should be real and what should not be: she had some power here.

It pains me to confess Ashley had little poetry in her soul. She would have preferred titanium body armor.”

p. 149 of Trisha Telep’s Kiss Me Deadly anthology – quote from Sarah Reese Brennan’s ‘The Spy Who Never Grew Up”

three things guaranteed to make you laugh

Interesting weekend. I should probably start by staying that I’m an introvert mostly, except for when I’m being an extrovert. Basically I like to make people laugh, so I’m goofy and talkative and just a wee bit crazy when I’m in company. What that all means is that usually I GET ALONG WITH PEOPLE. There are hard cases, like the people who had their sense of humor removed at birth (happiness vampires), witchy/unhappy people (switch the ‘w’ for a ‘b’ and you’ll get what I mean), and the ignorant crowd. Typically I can get around that some which way…

Not on Saturday. Had a slightly miserable time at a party (I KNOW – how can that even happen?), but it ended up being okay because I had a book so hilarious and sassy and ridiculous with me that I chuckled aloud in my little abandoned corner a couple of times. Well, and the food ended up being delicious. But really…when the best part of a party is the book you brought with you? Hmm… (never, EVER leaving my own car at home – and thus cutting off my escape route – ever again)

That said, here are three things guaranteed to make you laugh:

1. Meeting Mr. Wrong (book mentioned above…guaranteed laughter and other healthy things included) by Stephanie Snowe. A true story of dating disasters and life gone awry told in an honest and hilarious and gosh-darn-awesome voice. The author is so authentic - I feel like I know her. If you don't see yourself getting the book anytime soon, check out her blog (just click on her name above). Same impish, feisty humor, in daily snippets. I want to be Ms. Snowe when I grow up. Well...at least when I'm older. How about tomorrow?

2. The Demon’s Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan. YA fantasy novel full of quotable sound bites and laugh-out-loud type moments, with an action-packed story and mystery to match. Also contains gorgeous bad boy with more ‘personality’ than Edward and Jacob *cough, cough* combined.

3. The INTERN’s blog. I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s worth checking again, and especially if you’ve never read the publishing INTERN’s snarky, fabulous adventures in manuscript and surreal-apartment-living land.

[begin aside]

Today marks the start of Book Blogger Appreciation Week (which hereafter will be referred to as BBAW), a celebration for and by book bloggers. Though I don’t consider myself a full-fledged book blogger (mostly because I like to post about…oh…everything?), I am taking part because the community is awesome, and I’ve met some super-sweet people through the blogging experience.

[end aside]

There you have it. I nominated the INTERN for best publishing industry blog, and can only assume that she didn’t make the shortlist through miscarriage of justice (err…scratch that. perhaps simple procrastination? failure to enter? yeah…). She’s my ‘mention.’ Many others deserved to make the shortlist as well, and I voted for them (you’d better believe it!), but this is the post entitled THREE things, so I’ll leave it at that for now. Go off and have a lovely Monday, and look around my blog tomorrow for a book blogging interview swap and GIVEAWAY. Yes, I said it. Now, shoo!

teaser tuesday (9)

It's Teaser Tuesday, a bookish blog meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Here's how it works:

Grab your current read and let it fall open to a random page. Post two (or more) sentences from that page, along with the title and author. Don’t give anything vital away!

“‘If we start selling my body to rich old ladies now,’ Nick said, ‘Can I quit school?’

‘No,’ Alan answered with a sidelong smile, warm as a whispered secret. ‘You’ll be glad you finished school one day. Aristotle said education is bitter, but its fruits are sweet.’

Nick rolled his eyes. ‘Aristotle can bite me.’”

-p. 3 of Sarah Rees Brennan’s The Demon’s Lexicon