Ash – Malinda Lo

A Cinderella variant haunted by echoes of science clashing with belief and new religions clashing with old ones, Ash tells the story of a young woman untethered, trying to find a place in the world. First Ash returns, again and again, to the grave of her mother; then she shelters in the protection of a handsome fairy; later, she falls for a confident huntress and gets some confidence and agency for herself.

Ash is told in a gentle, largely expository style, fittingly reminiscent of oral tradition. The pacing is unusual; fairly slow, it thoroughly develops Ash and Sidhean, the fairy, before introducing Kaisa, the huntress. Between those two factors, it took a while to draw me in, but once it caught me I was caught but good. Ash’s slow emotional transitions are dealt with beautifully, one set of emotions fading—but not disappearing—as another rises up. The differences between Ash’s relationships with Sidhean and Kaisa are well drawn and a fascinating reflection of the differences in their personalities and statuses, his bitterness contrasting with her caution. Though the romance is important, it’s less central than in many Cinderella variants; the focus is more on Ash coming into her own, something she does slowly and believably, with a few natural stumbles on the way. Likewise, though it builds to a lesbian relationship, the fact that it’s queer is less central than in many GLBT books. For the most part, it’s treated as perfectly natural and obvious that there would be same-sex relationships. In fact, one of the few parts of the book that didn’t work for me was a few pages of Ash being confused and awkward because of the suggestion that her feelings for Kaisa could be romantic and/or sexual. Nonetheless, it’s a beautiful, unusual book, and a pleasant reprieve from heavy LGBT-related books and new stories.

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Ash ~ Malinda Lo

 

Vampirates: Black Heart – Justin Somper

I picked up a copy of Vampirates: Black Heart and only realized when I was about to start reading that it’s not the first volume in a series, as I had thought, but the fourth. Oh well! I read it anyway. I’m really not sure I was missing much, though my synopsis might be a bit vague.

Twins Grace and Connor have found themselves in some strange circumstances since their father died, their mother having died – more or less – when they were infants. I gather there was a shipwreck, and they were rescued by pirates – Connor – and Vampirates – Grace. Each was immediately attracted to the lives of their rescuers, Connor joining a pirate crew and Grace befriending the Vampirates. At the beginning of this volume, they’ve been briefly reunited and are in position to learn about their mother and her history. Also to get embroiled in internal Vampirate politics and a possible clash building between the mortal Pirates and the Vampirates and deal with first romance, them being fourteen and this being a vampire book.

I was not expecting either great writing or a great plot. I was rather hoping for a trashily fun book, with swashbuckling.

I am sad to report that there is decidedly little swashbuckling.

There are, however, rather a lot of exclamation points, often at rather inappropriate times. For instance, a character who is supposed to “come across as an old curmudgeon”¹ should not use exclamation points. Ever, really, much less often. On a similar vein is, “‘No!’ Cheng Li said very calmly.”² On cannot, by definition, exclaim calmly.

The pirates are overly civilized, the good Vampirates are boring, and the evil Vampirates are unconvincing in their evil. The strange lapses of sense³ could be somewhat forgiven by fun and swashbuckling, but alas, both are lacking.

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¹p. 412
²p. 491
³Why is a character who’s supposed to be kept out of combat being trained for a deadly combat mission? What is up with the “pregnancy spell”? How is the idiot character better at negotiation than the intelligent captain?

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Vampirates: Black Heart

 

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon – Grace Lin

Minli is a happy, creative, smart child living in a small, very poor village with her storytelling father and her dissatisfied mother. Minli decides that she will change her family’s fortune by speaking to the Man of the Moon – guardian of the Book of Fortune and a key figure in her father’s stories – and, after getting directions from a goldfish, off she goes. On her way, she makes various friends, each of whom tells her another in a set of interlocking tales.

Based on Chinese folklore, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a short, sweet, ultimately satisfying book. The stories interlock in small, clever ways, and Minli’s quiet earnestness prevents keeps her from becoming annoying. Her parents’ growth during her absence is a bit more heavy-handed, but believable and also sweet. I haven’t read much Chinese mythology, and this made a lovely introduction.

June 2009

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Where the Mountain Meets the Moon ~ Grace Lin

 

The Name of This Book is Secret – Pseudonymous Bosch

“Not all novelists are power-hungry madmen – some are power-hungry madwomen.”

So says the pseudonymous narrator of the novel The Name of this Book is Secretin one of his¹ understated moments of truth. These moments are the best snippets from the book, but he tries to hard; instead of a power-hungry madman, the narrator is merely desperate for approval – and as he tries so hard to be charming and clever, he slides further into annoyance.

Anyway, between narratarorial interruptions, two eleven-year-old misfits stumble across a mystery involving creepy, overly-perfect-looking adults and synesthesia. And the main character has gay grandpas! (Well, honorary grandpas.) They live together in an old firehouse which is now their antique store. This is pretty damn awesome. Another character is clearly more messed up by his parents staying together than he would be by them getting properly divorced and living apart. It’s actually fairly smart, masked by an overwhelming silliness. It’s an interesting combination, in which the intelligence sneaks up on you. The frequent narratorial interjections don’t help, but it’s still a very fun book.
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¹ The back flap uses “he” to refer to the unnamed author, so I’m following that in my use of the male pronoun.

 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian – Sherman Alexie

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is an almost brutally honest portrayal of life as a smart, nerdy, awkward, disabled boy from the Rez – specifically the Spokane Indian Reservation – and the year he decides to go to the decent high school in the nearby white town. The white kids hate him. The Indian kids hate him. Things get better for Junior and things get worse, but the sense of being slung between worlds never quite goes away. There’s humor, there’s clever cartoons, there’s, well, honesty. There’s also periodic Profundity Syndrome (that pernicious malaise which makes authors tell us point-blank why what we’re reading/just read is Terribly Important and Deeply Profound). It starts about once every 50 pages – an acceptable rate – but it just keeps accelerating till the end. To a certain extent this is fair; it’s first person and the narrator deserves his epiphanies. Still, that creeping Profundity Syndrome keeps it from being a great book. As it stands, it’s a very good book.