monday memories – clariel

Emma of Miss Print and Nicole at The Book Bandit have started a new weekly feature called Monday Memories.  To participate, all you have to do is take a photo of one of your books (or a library book that means a lot to you) and talk a bit about why it made an impression.  Today I'm going to talk about Clariel by Garth Nix.

True story: I haven’t read this book yet. 

Given that I’ve re-read Sabriel and the other Abhorsen stories over and over (too many times to count!), you’d think I would have already jumped into this one.  Especially since I picked it up at Book Expo America in MAY, and it is October now.  Somehow this book has become a charm.  In my head it has become the thing that’ll pull me out of a terrible day, the antidote to reading malaise, the cure for all that ails me! 

I may be putting too much pressure on this book.  I’ll stop, I swear. 

Oh look at that – it’s me meeting Garth Nix in person and getting his signature.  I was SO EXCITED (I’m in the middle, that’s my sister on the right, beeteedubs)… it doesn’t show in the photo, but my heart was beating like mad and I almost forgot how to speak.  I just… authors are my rock stars, you know? 

So yeah.  Even though I haven’t read this book, it means a lot to me.  It’s potential wonder, the continuation of a favorite universe, and the meet-and-greet of the year.  Dear book, I don't know you yet, but I love you.

If you'd like to see more Monday Memories posts, head over to this week's link list.

waiting on wednesday (82)

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.

One of my very favorite books of 2014 (so far) is Tin Star, a young adult sci-fi novel set on a mostly-abandoned space station that orbits an abandoned planet.  I adored the world-building, the heroine's emotion and trust issues, and the way the story played with what it means to be human. I was seriously, seriously impressed, and I can't wait for the sequel.  WHICH IS COMING SOON, thank Thor (and yes, that was a nod to my current Avengers fanfiction addiction)! Cecil Castellucci's Stone in the Sky will be released by Roaring Brook Press (Macmillan) on February 24th, 2015.

In this thrilling follow-up to Tin Star, Tula will need to rely on more than just her wits to save her only home in the sky.

After escaping death a second time, Tula Bane is now even thirstier for revenge. She spends much of her time in the Tin Star Café on the Yertina Feray—the space station she calls home. But when it's discovered that the desolate and abandoned planet near the station has high quantities of a precious resource, the once sleepy space station becomes a major player in intergalactic politics. In the spirit of the Gold Rush, aliens from all over the galaxy race to cash in—including Tula's worst enemy.

What books are you waiting on?

top ten books for readers who like character-driven novels

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, where we all get to exercise our OCD tendencies and come up with bookish lists.  If you’d like to play along, check out this post.

I think most of us know instinctively when we're reading character-driven books.  There's a focus on character growth: characters grow older, grow into themselves, make decisions that will change the trajectory of their lives or confirm previous choices... and then find ways to deal with that.  The story is more about personality than plot.  I enjoy plot-driven books as much as the next young adult fiction fan, but I have a soft spot in my heart for reads where the heroes and heroines have rich inner lives.

Top Ten Books for Readers Who Like Character-Driven Novels

1. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness – Conor's mother is ill, and he is being visited by a monster.  Though there's plenty of story here, the focus is Conor, dealing with denial and grief on the way to adulthood.

2. Chalice by Robin McKinley – Beekeeper Mirasol is faced with a seemingly impossible task, and must rely on her strengths, develop her talents, and trust in order to save her world.

3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë – It feels like cheating to include a classic, but this one really is character-driven.  Jane is a prickly person capable of deep feeling, and it is (almost) her downfall.

4. Stupid Fast by Geoff Herbach – Felton is the best.  This book is the best.  Whenever I think of the genuine awkward that is teenage life, I think of this book.

5. Relish by Lucy Knisley – Yes, this is a graphic memoir, and thus the author is writing her (own) character.  I think the medium gives Lucy's story a bit of distance, and the result is all about growing up in your own way.

6. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater – This is a very autumnal book... and while I liked the human (and equine) characters very well, my favorite was the island of Thisby.  Which was very much a character of its own, thank you very much!

7. The Humming Room by Ellen Potter – This reimagining of The Secret Garden is carried by main character Roo, who has a haunting past, a mysterious present, and possibly a positive future ahead.

8. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie – Junior comes to grips with the differences between his home life on the Rez and his white, farm town school in his hilarious, tragic and haunting diary.

9. A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle – This is a book about family, history, and a ghost.  It has the best dialogue I can remember reading, and some of the most memorable female characters.  

10. Plain Kate by Erin Bow – FEELS.  All of them.  Just... read this book!

Honorable Mention: Anything/everything by Sharon Shinn – Shinn writes really great fantasy and sci-fi with fantastic worldbuilding, and she ALSO writes beautiful, genuine characters.  Who often fall in love.  Mmmm...

What is your favorite character-driven novel?

stitching snow

I’m considering renaming this blog ‘Cecelia Ever After.’  Well, not really.  BUT.  The number of fairy tales retellings in my to-be-read (TBR) pile is… getting out of control.  I can’t seem to help myself whenever I see a new one pop up.  Example: R.C. Lewis’ debut young adult novel Stitching Snow.  There I was at the BEA Bloggers Conference, minding my own business, when I saw that title and cover.  Immediately, I suspected fairy tale retelling.  The ARC might have been in my hands even before my mind finished making the connection.  That turned out to be a good life choice*, because it's a can’t-put-it-down genre mash-up of a book (a.k.a. fun times).

Princess Snow is missing.

Her home planet is filled with violence and corruption at the hands of King Matthias and his wife as they attempt to punish her captors. The king will stop at nothing to get his beloved daughter back—but that’s assuming she wants to return at all.

Essie has grown used to being cold. Temperatures on the planet Thanda are always sub-zero, and she fills her days with coding and repairs for the seven loyal drones that run the local mines.

When a mysterious young man named Dane crash-lands near her home, Essie agrees to help the pilot repair his ship. But soon she realizes that Dane’s arrival was far from accidental, and she’s pulled into the heart of a war she’s risked everything to avoid. With the galaxy’s future—and her own—in jeopardy, Essie must choose who to trust in a fiery fight for survival.

Essie is a tough-as-nails teenage mechanic making her way on the ice planet of Thanda by repairing mining drones.  Princess Snow is a long-missing royal heir from Windsong, the most powerful planet in the star system.  Dane is a young man who crash lands a Garam shuttle onto Thanda, ostensibly in search of ‘treasure.’  And none of these young people are exactly who they seem.  However, their actions and adventures will decide the fate of their planets – if they can survive assassination attempts, kidnapping, and double crosses.  Buckle up!

Stitching Snow is a planet-hopping sci-fi adventure for a generation that grew up watching Star Wars.  It’s the story of unlikely heroine Essie, who pays for spare parts for her drones (and lost boy Dane’s shuttle repairs) by cage fighting on the icy planet Thanda.  Seriously, one of the opening scenes is a cage fight!  From there, the story marches on to Garam, a desert world with protected bio-domes and advanced tech, and there are two more planet-hops before the end of the story.  All of this movement is aided by non-stop action and political necessity, so that the pace feels urgent, even breakneck in spots.  Unfortunately, the never-ending action leaves… let’s call them gaps… in believability and world-building. 

Some of the things you have to take on faith: 1) Two teenagers can effectively infiltrate a military/government compound, 2) A girl can remember and understand nuances in relationships/politics from a childhood situation that she hasn't been immersed in for years, 3) Same girl who was betrayed by family at an extremely young age immediately trusts strange boy, 4) Being a royal is pretty simple to pick up, and 5) There weren't any retroactively-planted listening devices.  Most of the above won't make sense until you read the book, of course.  The good news is that the reader can overlook most of it because: entertainment value!

Though Stitching Snow is supposedly a Snow White-gone-science-fiction retelling, I'd say it has a different flavor.  It has some of the trappings of the fairy tale – apple, dwarves, jealous stepmother – but it's mostly a political thriller set against the backdrop of a star system.  It also draws from other tales and traditions, and includes a sadistic king who plays with others' lives and a rebellious group, the Exiles.  My favorite character/bit of scenery was the drone Dimwit, who combined the best of Star Wars' R2-D2 and C-3PO, and was set up as the adorable sidekick early on, alongside another drone, Cusser (who provided comic relief without the need to even say the requisite 'cuss words').

One of the things that R.C. Lewis did well was to write dynamically.  The book starts with that cage fight (a great hook!), and even when characters are training or talking or engaging in other downtime, the flow remains constant.  Another thing I liked was Lewis' mix of future tech and the archaic.  Sci-fi lets you play a bit with advancements in tech and/or traditions, but Stitching Snow had a good balance between things that may be automated, and what will remain manual.  This helped integrate some of the expected 'fairy tale' trappings as well.  A third 'like' goes down to the fact that this is (as far as I can tell) a stand-alone.  I could see places where the story might have been teased out into a series, but I'm very glad it wasn't, for both the pace of the book and on the romance side of things (oh yes, there is a bit of romance...).

In all, Stitching Snow was a fun YA sci-fi novel with political games, near escapes, assassination attempts, kidnappings and cage fights.  Oh, and a nod to fairy tales.  Everything I like (everything exciting!) all in one place.  It wasn't perfect, but I enjoyed it, and I think it will be very popular.

Recommended for: fans of Marissa Meyer's Cinder and Star Wars, and anyone who is partial to light science fiction, stories with breakneck pacing, and heroines who are smart and tech-savvy.

*Other good life choices include (but are not limited to): eating salads for lunch, participating in a real-life book club, and maintaining a sense of humor while riding public transportation.

Stitching Snow will be released by Disney Hyperion on October 14, 2014.

Fine print: I picked up an ARC of this book at the BEA Bloggers Convention in May.  I received no compensation for this post.