princess decomposia and count spatula

You might take a quick glance at the cover of this graphic novel and think, “What is Cecelia doing, reviewing a gothic tale on Valentine’s Day?! She has her holidays mixed up.”  Bear with me for half a second!  The tagline on the cover is actually “Who says romance is dead?” and if you look closely, that vampire has hearts for eyes.  Unlikely as it may seem, this is actually the perfect read for the occasion.  Andi Watson’s Princess Decomposia and Count Spatula is all-around adorable and very, very sweet.

Princess Decomposia is overworked and underappreciated.  

This princess of the underworld has plenty of her own work to do but always seems to find herself doing her layabout father's job, as well. The king doesn't feel quite well, you see. Ever. So the princess is left scurrying through the halls, dodging her mummy, werewolf, and ghost subjects, always running behind and always buried under a ton of paperwork. Oh, and her father just fired the chef, so now she has to hire a new cook as well. 

Luckily for Princess Decomposia, she makes a good hire in Count Spatula, the vampire chef with a sweet tooth. He's a charming go-getter of a blood-sucker, and pretty soon the two young ghouls become friends. And then...more than friends? Maybe eventually, but first Princess Decomposia has to sort out her life. And with Count Spatula at her side, you can be sure she'll succeed.  

Andi Watson (Glister, Gum Girl) brings his signature gothy-cute sensibility to this very sweet and mildly spooky tale of friendship, family, and management training for the undead.

Princess Decomposia does the work of the kingdom while her invalid father King Wulfrun spends each day in bed.  Running a kingdom is hard (and hungry) work!  When the castle cook resigns without notice on the day before the werewolf delegation is due for dinner, Princess Decomposia (Dee for short) is thrown for a loop.  Luckily for Dee, vampire chef Count Spatula is an applicant for the new opening. The Count brings a certain flair for the experimental to the castle and the Princess’ life – but will it last?  Duty may yet trump romance (and baked goods)…

The plot is fairly simple: overworked girl meets new boy, the status quo changes, people react, girl makes a decision, there’s a revelation!, and with a little bit of work, the characters get a happily ever after.  As you might be able to tell from the title and cover art, this is all done in a tongue-in-cheek fictional paranormal kingdom, where the scullery maid is a clove of garlic and the zombie head of state makes boring dinner conversation.  Half the fun is seeing what sort of monster will make an appearance next, and what role they will play in the story.  The combination of subtle and overt humor is delightful.

Of course, with a character named Count Spatula, there are cooking- and baking-related adventures.  The Count doesn’t have the references of some applicants, but he is adept at caring for people (or monsters, in this case) and whipping up fantastical desserts in short order.  His unique take on Lemon Drizzle Cake looked crazy/good, and the Mud Monster Cake made me laugh out loud.  I find myself craving these fictional sweets as I read.  A mouth-watering problem, to be sure.

The art, with a few exceptions, is almost all arranged in 5 or 6 small panels per page, and done exclusively in black and white.  This is perfect for the ghoulish characters (who would mostly be black and white, anyway!), but at some points a proliferation of bones in one illustration or another would confuse my eye a bit – not enough contrast.  The style is cute and unfussy for what are usually grim, horrible creatures, and I loved that juxtaposition.  The art seems to invite the reader to laugh at or imagine the daily lives of traditional scary monsters, and that’s just fun, you know? 

In all, this graphic novel is a pleasure to read.  It’s quick, all-ages appropriate, and highlights the themes of asking for help when you need it, doing what you can to fix things when you make a mistake, and (of course) the joys of baking.

Recommended for: fans of both paranormal fantasy and graphic novels, and anyone looking for a brief, adorable read.

Princess Decomposia and Count Spatula will be released on February 24, 2015 by First Second Books (Macmillan).

Interested in other food-related posts?  Check out Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking!

Fine print: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review consideration. I did not receive any compensation for this post.

sunshine

For quite a while I thought there was something special about long-time favorite books.  Something like a block or a mental brick wall that kept me from being able to put words on a page and describe how I loved that story, and how much the reading and re-reading of it changed me.  Well, there IS a special magic surrounding old, favorite and familiar tales, but I’ve worked myself around to being able to write about them (a bit).  Robin McKinley is one of my most favorite authors, and her adult fantasy (paranormal? urban fantasy?) Sunshine is one of her best books.  The other day I needed sunshine in my life, and I picked it up off the shelf for an extremely well-timed re-read.

"Her feet are already bleeding - if you like feet..."

There are places in the world where darkness rules, where it's unwise to walk. Sunshine knew that. But there hadn't been any trouble out at the lake for years, and she needed a place to be alone for a while.

Unfortunately, she wasn't alone. She never heard them coming. Of course you don't, when they're vampires.

Sunshine is a young, perfectly ordinary (she thinks!) girl with a loving, messy, normal family.  The only thing is, her world is full of the Others, including demons, Weres, and the Darkest Others, vampires.  But you can get through life pretty well as long as you avoid the dangerous parts of town and have a modicum of good sense and luck.  At least, that’s how it should be.  It turns out that Sunshine’s life won’t be so simple after she decides to drive out to the lake one summer night.

My friends know about my thing for zombies, but I usually protest that I don’t read about vampires.  This is the book that proves me a hypocrite.  It’s not that these are seductive vampires.  No, they are the utterly alien, terror-in-the-night kind.  But as Sunshine discovers, her destiny lies in a gray area, and she won’t get to pick the cut-and-dried human ‘side.’  She’ll have to live with impossibilities.  The story that takes her on that journey is fascinating and (as I said) an all-time favorite.

McKinley has created an entire world with unnamed Wars in recent history, a vampire menace, partblood discrimination, and a friendly coffee shop at its center.  However, the story’s focus is Sunshine, and her first-person narration is what makes the book work.  She’s self-deprecating, funny, afraid, and wants to cling to the normality she knows.  At the same time, she finds that deeply-hidden well of courage and strength needed to face evil, to keep on living, and to choose the right thing, even when it all seems bleak.  She’s no perfect heroine, and that, I think, is one of the reasons why readers will fall in love with her.

The thing that resonated most with me this re-read was the juxtaposition of Sunshine’s primal urge to make food and feed it to people (a metaphor for creation and nurture), and her mission/calling to do what she can to destroy evil (killing, getting her hands dirty).  Sunshine also grapples with the questions of how to be a good person while doing something that she fundamentally disagrees with, how to keep the balance of light and dark in her life, and if there is such a thing as a visible taint of evil. 

I find that the best books will speak different messages to you at different points in time.  I felt very adult this time ‘round, reading Sunshine.  It was… interesting.  In any case, it’s still a wonderful, immediate, funny, dark sort of pleasure, and I’m sure it’ll remain on the favorites shelf for years to come.

And now!  An aside featuring food: As the baker/pastry chef at her stepdad Charlie’s coffee shop, Sunshine makes many cinnamon rolls (as big as your head!), muffins, cherry tarts and Killer Zebras throughout the book.  What are Killer Zebras?  A type of cookie, of course.  The passage below (from page 227) got me thinking about making them.  A woman named Maud has just interrupted Sunshine’s solitude, and offered her a generic cookie from a packet.  It turns out that it is just this sort of fellowship with her fellow humans that Sunshine needed.

“Sometimes you have help,” I said.  “Sometimes people come along and offer you Chocolate Pinwheels.” 

“Sometimes,” she said.

“I’m Rae,” I said.  “Do you know Charlie’s Coffeehouse?  It’s about a quarter mile that way,” I said, pointing.

“I don’t get that far very often,” she said.

“Well, some time, if you want to, you might like to try our Killer Zebras.  There’s a strong family resemblance…Tell whoever serves you that Sunshine says you can have as many as you can carry away, to bring back to this park and eat.  In the sunshine.”

“Are you Sunshine then too?”

I sighed.  “Yes.  I guess.  I’m Sunshine too.”

“Good for you,” she said, and patted my knee.

So I did a little searching and found Robin’s mention of Killer Zebras as basically Betty Crocker Harlequin cookies.  I couldn’t find the original Betty Crocker recipe, but I did find this one for Chocolate Harlequins from Simon Rimmer’s Cooking for the Weekend.  I tried it.  And failed (they... spread. and the consistency is wrong).  Needless to say, I’ll be searching the cookbook section at used bookstores and sales until I find the original recipe!

Recommended for: anyone interested in paranormal and urban fantasy, fans of Emma Bull, Neil Gaiman and Sharon Shinn, and those who appreciate the full-immersion experience in a character and a fantastical world.

Interested in other food-related posts?  Check out Beth Fish Reads’ Weekend Cooking!

written in red

I have read Anne Bishop before, and I really enjoyed the worlds and characters she created (I read her Ephemera series).  Even so, I was skeptical when I saw her name on the cover of what looked like a very stereotypical adult paranormal fantasy.  I have read some great titles in the genre, but in between I have had to weed my way through plenty of ‘did not finish’ books, sometimes after I’d been promised a rip-roaring good time. 

What convinced me to pick up Written in Red, then?  Another reader’s reaction.  Wendy Darling of The Midnight Garden wrote an amazingly positive review and I thought: I’m on a werewolf kick anyway (The Silvered, The Shape of Desire), this is Anne Bishop, readers I trust loved it, and I like the sound of the set up.  Dear goodness, am I glad I bought in.  I read the book all in one (very long) night, and I thought and dreamt about it for several following.  Tonight I’m feeling a strong compulsion to re-read it as I write this review.  Friends, Written in Red is addictive.

No one creates realms like New York Times bestselling author Anne Bishop. Now in a thrilling new fantasy series, enter a world inhabited by the Others, unearthly entities—vampires and shape-shifters among them—who rule the Earth and whose prey are humans. 

As a cassandra sangue, or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn can see the future when her skin is cut—a gift that feels more like a curse. Meg’s Controller keeps her enslaved so he can have full access to her visions. But when she escapes, the only safe place Meg can hide is at the Lakeside Courtyard—a business district operated by the Others.

Shape-shifter Simon Wolfgard is reluctant to hire the stranger who inquires about the Human Liaison job. First, he senses she’s keeping a secret, and second, she doesn’t smell like human prey. Yet a stronger instinct propels him to give Meg the job. And when he learns the truth about Meg and that she’s wanted by the government, he’ll have to decide if she’s worth the fight between humans and the Others that will surely follow.

Meg Corbyn is a blood prophet.  When her skin is broken, she sees visions – valuable ones.  In her world, that means that her body is a product and her life is not her own.  When Meg escapes from her Controller and stumbles on the preserve of the Others, she thinks she’s found a reprieve.  The Others, who are elementals, shifters and beings that have no name, make a place for Meg.  But Meg’s keepers want her back, and the Others, led by Simon Wolfgard, will have to decide how far they will go to protect this human, and what it may mean for their world if they decide to keep her for their own.

As a character, Meg is a bit of a blank slate.  She’s been enslaved her entire life, and a lot of her experiences in this book are ‘firsts.’  She’s putting intellectual knowledge together with real life, and sometimes it adds up to four, and sometimes to five.  That said, she has strong convictions, a moral sensibility that remains unshaken, and a way of making connections with those who would frighten anyone else.  It is this last quality that wins her a place in the Lakeside Courtyard, and that makes others so willing to fight for her.  While I liked Meg in this installment, I can’t wait to see what she’ll do next with more history and practical experience under her belt.   And please, PLEASE Ms. Bishop include a romantic plotline sometime soon (though i completely understand why there isn’t in this book. she’s just so new to making decisions!).

What really shines in this book?  The world building, the politics, and the community of Others.  Bishop has created an alternate New World peopled by terra indigene, paranormal creatures who view humans as interlopers and prey.  This makes for a skewed power balance, as humans are the minority population, and they depend on the Others for resources and, essentially, permission to live.  The politics of this, the working out of who lives and who dies and the whys and wherefores behind those decisions is absolutely fascinating.  Pair it with unscrupulous humans in control of a force of blood prophets, and portrayals of damaged and lonely people, and you have a setting fraught with tension and emotion.

In the midst of all of that, Meg and the rest of the characters grapple with fundamental questions of the human experience: What will fear lead you to do? What does kindness mean, and how is it experienced differently person to person?  What is the relationship between image and truth?  It is absolutely gripping reading.

If I have a quibble (and I don’t, really), it is that you get to know everyone and their motivations except for the villains.  This is another thing that further volumes in the series may address.  Do I really want to empathize even the tiniest bit with these bad guys?  No.  They’re all evil all the time.  So even my objection is a non-issue.  In case I didn’t bring this home to you before, Written in Red is excellent. Read it!  And please ignore that cover art.  Okay, I’m done.

Recommended for: fans of Emma Bull, Wen Spencer and Michelle Sagara, and those who like fantasy books full of issues, tension, and unforgettable world building.