Love in the Time of Influenza: In the Shadow of Blackbirds Review

I am a sucker for all things Gothic. The Victorians may have had some weird ideas about things, but they certainly make for excellent fiction. Such is the case in this debut YA novel, In The Shadow Of Blackbirds, which lacked a little in richness and depth but nevertheless was a compelling and original story.

It’s 1918 and the United States is at war with Germany and in the grip of the Spanish Flu. Mary Shelley is sent to live with her aunt in San Francisco after her father is accused of being a traitor and her mother dies. There, Mary learns that her childhood friend and sweetheart Stephen has been killed in action. But Stephen appears at her bedside every night, screaming about blackbirds and covered in blood. A woman of science, Mary doesn’t believe in spirits but she cannot deny Stephen’s presence. Why is he haunting her? Is he caught between worlds, or is there something about his death he wants her to know?

I first picked this book up because I liked the setting of San Francisco at the tail end of WWI and in the throes of the Spanish Flu. It is easy to forget that this flu killed 20 million people world wide. Some estimates are as high as 100 million. Author Cat Winters does a great job re-creating this era of uncertainty, death, and superstition. Much research has gone into the odd remedies people used to ward off the flu, including wearing necklaces of garlic and burying themselves in onions.

This book unfolded like a traditional mystery and felt quite procedural at times, with Mary Shelley puzzling over clues, questioning possible suspects, and then arriving at the scene of crime only to have the perpetrators appear, confess, and threaten her own life. Cat Winters‘ writing style is brisk and well-paced and the book was extremely visual. At times I wanted her to flesh out the secondary characters a bit more. Particularly Aunt Eva, who felt under-developed to me.

This is a moody book, full of nightmares, a ghost suffering from shell shock, desperate people and illness. What happens to Stephen is truly horrible, but their is relief at the end when Mary Shelley is able to help him rest and she herself goes forth to do good in the world. A great read for fans of gothic fiction such as This Dark Endeavour, Masque of the Red Death, The Madman’s Daughter and The Diviners.

In The Shadow of Blackbirds is available now in hardcover from Amulet Books.

Perfectly Creepy: Doll Bones Review

I don’t know what it is about dolls, but they are the perfect subject for creepy stories. One of my favourite scary stories is The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Wren Wright, which I recommended on Bookish Notions last Halloween . Doll Bones is a rare breed, a true cross-genre tale with both literary and commercial appeal.

Zach, Poppy and Alice have created a fantastic, elaborate game involving dolls, pirates, mermaids and other worlds. Despite their differences, the game binds them together, that is until puberty kicks in and suddenly they find themselves with doubts, new allegiances, and their friendships hanging in the balance.

Warning, this review contains spoilers!

This is a fantastic blend of creepy and poignant, as only Holly Black can do. I love the double-barreled plot, with the story of The Queen and putting her to rest mirroring the story of the trio’s friendship. This gives the story some depth, so readers who don’t gravitate towards ghost stories have a more traditional contemporary friendship story to hook them, and those who read only scary stories have something a bit meatier to read. This blend of ghost story and contemporary real-world conflict is very similar to the structure of The Doll House Murders, an is one of the reasons I love that book, as well.

‘The Queen,’ perfectly captured by the cover art of Eliza Wheeler, is of course not JUST a doll, but is made from the ground bones of a child who died tragically. The reader is unsure if it is The Queen making the children do things, or if the children are using The Queen as an excuse to act. The uncanny qualities of The Queen truly set the story apart from other ghost stories.

There is a very industrial, lower-income feel to the setting. During their journey, the villages the trio pass through are full of abandoned businesses and homes and the people are down on their luck. None of the children are wealthy and there are a variety of non-nuclear family situations. Zach’s dad has returned after abandoning him and his mother for three years, Alice lives with her strict Filipina grandmother, and Poppy is one of a large family, her brothers often getting into trouble with the law. The game is made up of toys from found objects and toys from goodwill. There is something very contemporary and authentic about Black’s setting and her characters, it feels as though it has been informed by the recent recession and it’s effects on the average American family.

Betsy Bird at Fuse #8 did an excellent review of this book, describing it as ” what would happen if R.L. Stine ever wrote a Newbery quality horror book for kids.” I will be curious to see how award committees react to this book. It has a lot of kid appeal and is on one hand, a ghost story. But the richness of characters and the authenticity with how Black portrays the growing pains of friendship during puberty sets it apart. The most uncomfortable bits are not the scary parts, but when the friends talk about each other behind their backs, deal with crushes, or secret notes. Doll Bones walks many different lines (genres, commercial vs literaty) and is yet another feather in the highly decorated cap of Holly Black.

Doll Bones will be available in May from Simon and Schuster Canada.

Angels and Demons in Prague: Daughter of Smoke and Bone Review

When this book originally hit the market, the internet was flooded with raves and fangirls who just couldn’t get enough. I admit I steered clear because of the angels and monsters, neither of which I generally enjoy reading about. But after Lisa Doucet from Woozles in Halifax told me that it was one of her absolute favourites, I decided to give it a try. The lesson learned? Always trust a seasoned bookseller!

Karou has always felt like she was caught between two worlds. The human world- where she studies art, avoids her ex boyfriend, and visits a unique cafe called Poison decorated with caskets- and a secret world of monsters like Issa and Brimstone, formidable but loving half-breed creatures who raised her. But other supernatural beings don’t feel so fondly towards these monsters, and when the portals to their world are shut forever, Karou finds herself alone and desperate to get back to her family. Enter Akiva, an angel with a painful past that is linked to Karou’s own shadowy history.

I loved the setting of this book. Laini Taylor‘s descriptions of Prague made me want to visit. It was a perfect backdrop for her story, Gothic and steeped in beauty and history. I wanted to live in Karou’s apartment, hang out at her favourite cafe, and above all else I wish I could see her friend Zuzana’s performing art installation, in which a giant puppet acts as a puppet master to a human ballerina in a vintage tutu.*

This is a capital R romance novel, and if it wasn’t for the stellar writing, fascinating world building and Karou’s backstory, which has a grand tragic almost Shakespearean or Greek scope to it,  I would have been less enamoured with the book. Teens (and adults) looking for a sweeping romance, a standout heroine, or a refreshing European setting will eat this one up.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is available now in paperback from Little Brown.

*Hmm…between this book and Splendors & Glooms I am seriously developing a taste for puppets in books. Why is this? Because they are beautiful, touching, and yet creepy?

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun: Friday Society Review

I was in desperate need for something fun and fresh, and this cheeky YA novel from Canadian Adrienne Kress fit the bill.

You know I love a good girl power (ugh how I wish I could find a cooler term) novel. Case in point, my love of Kiki Strike, The Red Blazer Girls, and The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks. When I first heard of the concept- three girls who are apprentices to powerful men join forces to create a sort of secret superhero society in Victorian (or is Edwardian?) London- it felt so perfect I couldn’t believe no one had attempted it before. Kress’  love of all things steampunk combined with a sassy attitude make her the perfect writer for this story.

This book is a fine balancing act. It is at times silly, inspiring, fun, feminist, but it never feels like too much of one thing. It’s easy to visualize and would make an excellent movie, a sort of Charlie’s Angels meets Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes. I appreciated the inclusion of Michiko, a young Japanese woman trained in the samurai arts. So often ‘Victorian’ translates to ‘British,’ and  diversity in YA is always welcome.

There is some romance here, but thankfully Kress avoids making the story revolve about boys, which is a nice change of pace in the often romance-saturated YA. Instead, the girls are discovering that they, too can be proactive and make a difference, much aided by their new-found friendships. Kress includes a few conversations about women’s rights but she never feels preachy nor does she stray too far from her fun, adventure-seeking plot. Fans of Y.S. Lee’s Mary Quinn mysteries, Kiki Strike, Lesley Livingston, or anyone looking for a fun, empowering book for teens will love The Friday Society. Let’s hope Kress has more under her steampunk belt!

The Friday Society is available now in hard cover from Dial, and distributed in Canada by Razorbill Canada

A Gothic Masterpiece: Splendors & Glooms review

Be prepared- this review contains spoilers and incessant gushing.

A Drowned Maiden’s Hair remains one of my favourite contemporary middle grade books and I could not wait to read Schlitz’s next book Splendors and Glooms, which seemed perfectly Victorian and gothic and creepy. The wait was worthwhile, and this book has vaulted into my best books read in 2012 list (post coming soon!)

Clara Wintermute is lonely. After a cholera outbreak takes the lives of her four brothers and sisters, she is the sole child left in a sad, mourning household. But Clara is determined to have a good birthday, and so she begs her father to allow Gaspare Grisini to put on a puppet show for her guests. Clara is enchanted by the puppets, but also by the two children who work with the puppeteer, Lizzie Rose and Parsefall. She hopes to befriend them. Little do the three children know that Grisini has a dark past steeped in magic and horrors involving a curse and a series of kidnappings.

Set in London and Northern England in the 1860s, this is a masterful gothic fairytale from one of my favourite contemporary writers. Something about the tone and structure of this novel reminded me of  old-school fairytales, particularly The Snow Queen. It is dark in the same way fairytales are dark, which is to say there is an element of fantasy or disbelief employed that keeps the reader from crying throughout the whole book. We believe we are reading a fable and therefore we are affected but not traumatized by the story. There are many people who disagree with me, especially on Goodreads, where I made the mistake of browsing some of the reviews and came across a number of angry adult readers who found the book too disturbing for children.

Schlitz and I share a love of prickly protagonists. Maude (from A Drowned Maiden’s Hair) and Flory (from The Night Fairy) have a lot in common with Parsefall the pickpocket-turned-puppeteer. Orphans and fairies tend to be sympathetic, hard-done by, sweet characters, but not so in Schlitz’s work. All three of these characters are independent, selfish, conflicted, and damaged, but not so far-gone that they can’t experience transformation.I have a friend in social work who finds a lot of children’s literature frustrating because the protagonists seem untouched by the horrible and often traumatic situations they have to deal with (Harry Potter comes to mind. There is a kid who in the real world would need some serious therapy). I think she would appreciate Schlitz’ s work, which is more realistic in terms of the psychology of her troubled characters.

Parsefall, for example, is impulsive, selfish, and slow to trust others,  but his loyalty to Lizzie Rose and especially to Clara, when she is turned into a puppet, is touching. Lizzie Rose’s desire to be good no matter what is heartbreaking and inspiring.  The combination of complicated characters and truly striking prose is what makes Schlitz stand apart from the crowd.

This book has an interesting denouement, which is bit longer than most middle grade or even YA novels. It’s very spiritual and cleansing in a way, and Schlitz takes great pains to explain the actions of her villains, if not exonerate their guilt completely. The children’s goodness and forgiveness lightens the heavier aspects of the book and I finished the book with a sense of catharsis that happens to rare these days. A true masterpiece.

Splendors and Glooms is available now in hardcover from Candlewick Press, distributed by RandomHouse in Canada.

All That Jazz: The Diviners Review

I never know what to expect when I pick up a Libba Bray novel, other than YA genius. Where content or style is concerned, there is very little in common between the Gemma Doyle trilogy, Going Bovine, Beauty Queens, and The Diviners. Bray has the ability to slip between styles like no other YA author. Although I loved Beauty Queens (read more about this weird and wonderful feminist novel here), the historical/magical world of Gemma Doyle is what captured my heart the most. Until I read her latest offering, The Diviners.

1920s New York City is buzzing with life, opportunity, and murder. A serial killer has struck, a mysterious man calling himself Naughty Jack, modeling his murders after an unusual scripture. We are introduced to a strange brew of characters, including the charming and devious Evie, a wannabe flapper with a strange gift for clairvoyance; handsome numbers-runner Memphis who will go to great lengths to protect his younger brother; Sam, a wise-cracking but handsome pickpocket; Theta, a glamourous but aloof follies girl running from her past, and many more.

I don’t know a single person who could walk by that cover and not be intrigued. It’s dark, gorgeous, mysterious, and evocative- just like the novel. Someone give that book designer an award! Bray fully immerses the reader into her world, not just painting a vivid portrait of NYC but also giving us glimpses inside the heads and lives of Naughty Jack’s victims. I don’t read much adult historical fiction or high fantasy because I don’t like getting bogged down in details, but Bray manages to be detailed without straying too far from the plot, which unfolds at the perfect pace. There were a few moments in the beginning in which the story felt unwieldy, as if there were too many disparate strains for Bray to effectively keep control of, but any concerns I had mostly dissipated by the end of the novel.

This book is mostly about Evie, a bratty, fame-hungry and self-centered social climber, who I found extremely annoying for the first 80 pages or so. I had some difficulty swallowing her constant stream of jazz-era slang, which may be in character, but I found distracting. Not enough that I wanted to put the book down, but even at the end, after she witnesses some horrible things and truly comes into her own as a far more palatable person, I still found Evie irritating. She was the most “stock-y” of the characters in this novel and I found myself wishing Bray would focus on some of the more interesting characters (Mable, Jericho, Theta).

What I appreciate the most in this novel is Bray’s ability to conclude what is clearly book one of a series in a satisfying way but still introduce enough questions that the reader is desperate for book two. I call these kind of books door-openers (instead of cliff hangers). A cliff hanger is such an easy way to entice a reader, but Bray is too smart for that. The major plot comes to a (seeming) conclusion, but some of the secondary characters (Memphis and Jericho) for example are set up to have bigger story-lines in book two. I ,for one, look forward to hearing more about the mysterious Jericho and his Frankenstein-ish past.

Fans of Bray (of which there are legions), The Name of the Star (Maureen Johnson), Strings Attached (Judy Blundell) and YA lovers of all ages will gobble this up. Anyone who enjoys books set in New York or during the jazz era will also appreciate the sense of time and place in the novel. The moody atmosphere and supernatural content screams fall, making The Diviners a truly satisfying post-Halloween read.

The Diviners is available now from Little Brown.

 

Buffy Re-vamped and Then Some: Anna Dressed in Blood Review

I have mentioned before how much I love ghost stories, which make up a large portion of my summer reading. I think it has something to do with discovering Christopher Pike and Mary Downing Hahn’s The Doll House Murders at the library the summer I was ten. Now when the weather turns hot, I crave something scary. Anna Dressed in Blood delivered everything I wanted and more.

Cas is a ghosthunter.  Armed with a powerful ancestral knife, he hunts ghosts who kill humans, a job that takes him all over the US and now, to Thunder Bay, Ontario*, in search of a ghost known as Anna Dressed in Blood. There, Cas infiltrates his high school’s inner circle, lead by beautiful Carmel, who lead him directly to Anna’s house. But Anna is unlike any ghost he has faced before. She appears to Cas in two forms: a the young girl on her way to a dance in 1958, warm and intelligent, and the writhing, demonic Anna Dressed in Blood, her white dress stained red with blood and capable of tearing a man in half. Cas finds himself drawn to Anna like no other ghost or living person before. As the murders get worse, Cas has no choice but to enlist the help of Carmel and Thomas, an irritating but well-intentioned telepath.

Reading this book felt a little bit like stepping into the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in the best possible way. You have a somewhat reluctant but efficient slayer (Cas) who falls in love with the most powerful ghost he has ever met and is doomed to kill (Anna). The slayer is befriended by a meek but loyal witch (Thomas), and there’s even have a Cordelia type (Carmel), who is drawn into their circle. There are lots of differences of course, and Anna Dressed in Blood is much more than a Buffy rip-off, but fans of the show will definitely appreciate the world Kendare Blake has created.

Blake is an assured writer who is comfortable enough in the genre to take some interesting liberties. This is a ghost story that could also easily be classified as horror. Blake’s style is very visual and there are a number of gory scenes I’m not likely to forget soon. Anna Dressed in Blood, in her more demonic form, is especially memorable. Not to mention that her moniker is the best ghost name of all time. It’s probably very wrong to wish she was a real  ghost story, but a small part of me wishes she was, the same part of me who played Bloody Mary at sleepovers in grade 6.

Our hero Cas is a bit of a bad-boy, ne’er-do-well type, and he knows it. He uses his dark looks and appeal to charm his way into the hearts of girls to find out the information he needs about the ghosts he hunts. He is devoted to his craft and his witch mother, and tries desperately to keep other people from getting drawn into his dangerous lifestyle. Something about his voice (defeated smart-ass with a heart of gold) reminded me of Cassel in Holly Black’s Curse Workers trilogy, another book set in our world with a layer of supernaturality infused for maximum reading enjoyment. Fans of Shadowed Summer for Saundra Mitchell, The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson and of course, Buffy fans, will love this book.

AND there is going to be a sequel! 

Anna Dressed in Blood is available now in hard cover from Tor Teen Books.

*It’s a small thing, but I loved that this book was set in Thunder Bay, even though the author is American. I suppose it’s a very Canadian trait to be flattered and surprised that someone OTHER than a Canadian would choose a Canadian setting, but then again I’m a very Canadian girl.

Plague is the New Dystopia: Trends in YA

Trend tracking is a delicate and tricky thing. The minute you stumble upon one, the trend seems to have passed. But I can’t ignore the number of YA plague novels that seem to be on the horizon. It can be argued (successfully) that plague books fall under the larger umbrella of dystopian fiction, but I find that in most cases, a plague is mentioned as the cause of the society’s current dystopian state, but the main action of the book takes place in the aftermath, not during the outbreak itself. There are also an awful lot of zombie novels that begin as plague novels, in which the zombies function as the plague, infecting the living.

I find outbreak stories genuinely terrifying, moreso than traditional dystopian novels. Plague books have an element of “this could really happen” because it HAS already happened, a number of times in history. Nothing is more leveling than disease.  I love scary books and I love trying to imagine what I would do if I was- god forbid- running around a plague-stricken city (currently knocking on all sorts of wood). Here are two of the most promising looking plague books on the market.

First up, Megan Crewe’s hotly anticipated THE WAY WE FALL (Disney/Hyperion), the first in a new trilogy. There’s been lots of pre-publication buzz for this book and I couldn’t be more thrilled for this young Canadian author. When a deadly virus begins to sweep through sixteen-year-old Kaelyn’s community, the government quarantines her island—no one can leave, and no one can come back. Those still healthy must fight for dwindling supplies, or lose all chance of survival. Inspired by books like Stephen King’s The Stand, Doomsday Book (Connie Willis), The Plague (Albert Camus), and awesome middle grade title Life as We Knew It (Beth Pfieffer), this book promises to be like the movie Outbreak but with teenagers on the brink of adulthood. Honestly, what more do you want in a book?

Check out this GREAT trailer:

Bethany Griffin’s MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (Greenwillow), based loosely on the Edgar Allan Poe story of the same name, is due out in May. This creepy gothic novel takes place in a city that feels a little like Paris and a lot like New Orleans. A plague has decimated most of the world’s population and Araby’s father, a scientist, has discovered a mask that filters the air and provides protection. The only catch is that maniacal Prince Prospero controls who gets a mask and the masses can’t afford them.  Everything in the book oscillates between lavish and squalor- incredible gowns and balls and corpses rotting in the streets. I am not a love triangle girl (I maintain that Peeta and Gale exist to help Katniss fulfil her role and develop into the woman she will become, not as romantic polar opposites for her to agonize over. I will not comment on that *other* famous YA love triangle), but I admit to getting caught up in Araby’s struggle between manic genius and consummate bad boy with a cause Elliott, and works-all night-in-the-debauchery-district-wearing-sexy-eyeliner-in-order-to-support-his-orphaned-younger-siblings Will. If it’s not yet clear, I LOVED this book- full review to come later.

Both of these novels are by promising young authors who’ve taken a genre and made it their own. Plague books may be a close relative to dystopian novels, but there is something even more immediate and chilling about them. Let’s hope more authors get infected (sorry, I almost went an entire post without a bad plague pun) by this fledgling genre.

Starstruck by Maureen Johnson: The Name of the Star Review

This is the UK cover, which I prefer to the NA one. I'm not sure who that girl is supposed to be, but I am loving that font

Jack the Ripper, English boarding school, ghosts, teen detective squads. This is enough information to pique my interest, but I was skeptical that it would come together until the name Maureen Johnson was attached. Now I am on board.

Rory Deveaux moves from rural Louisiana to London to start a new life at a British boarding school. There she makes friends with sweet but straight-edge Jazza and a curly-haired boy named Jerome (Ah, those curly-haired boys!) School is difficult but stimulating and Rory is loving her new London life until a series of copy-cat murders, modeled after the gruesome work of Jack the Ripper, turn London upside down. Being invincible teens, Jazza and Rory find themselves sneaking about on the night of one of the murders and Rory sees a man who turns out to be the only suspect in the case. The problem is that Jazza can’t see him.

This is the second book I’ve read this season featuring teen ghost detectives*. Is this a new and unexpected trend in YA lit? It is definitely new territory for Johnson, who is well-known (and well-loved) for her funny contemporary girl books (Girl at Sea, Suite Scarlett, 13 Little Blue Envelopes**). Rory’s narrative, the fantastic supporting cast and the dash of romance is classic Johnson. The supernatural twist is new but very welcome!

While parts of the story are frightening and even violent, it’s clear that Johnson has not set out to spook her reader. At the heart of the novel is the story of the teens who are members of The Shades, which is the name of the secret police force who solve crime by communicating with ghosts. She spends a lot of time fleshing out (obviously not literally) the ghosts and their pasts, turning them into real, complicated characters. I look forward to learning more about The Shades- why is Callum so angry? What makes calm, Eton-educated Stephen tick? Please, please, can we have more Boo?

Luckily, this is the first in a series, so there is more to enjoy! I smell the possibility of a love triangle with Rory in the middle of sweet, non-Shade Jerome and complicated, moody Shade Stephen. Fans of Maureen Johnson will happily settle down and read this one in a night. This book is less gothic and more mystery- fans of paranormal romance will enjoy it, but it’s really written for the reader who loves contemporary fiction or mystery but is looking for something fresh.

The Name of the Star is available in hard cover from Penguin Canada.

 

*This isn’t exactly true. Evan Munday’s The Dead Kids Detective Agency is actually about a group of ghosts who solve mysteries, while The Shades are living people (mostly teens at this point) who can SEE ghosts and solve mysteries with the assistance of said ghosts.

**How is it that this book is not a movie yet? It would be the BEST teen movie!

Neil Flambé’s Twisted Sister: The Dead Kid Detective Agency Review

Mystery is always a popular choice among young readers, and as Kevin Sylvester as proved with his successful Neil Flambé series, mystery with a bit of humour and some spot illustrations is even better. Evan Munday’s new series is a great step up for older Flambé fans. His text is full of pop culture references, some more obscure than others, but comes with a handy reference guide in the back. Not knowing the references won’t frustrate or deter readers from the story. A successful graphic artist, Munday also proves himself to be a worthy wordsmith on his first foray into children’s literature.

October Schwartz is new to the aptly named Sticksville, located somewhere in Southern Ontario. She is motherless, likes to wear black, and is deep in the writerly throes of a book entitled Two Knives, One Hundred Thousand Demons, which she toils over in class or in the cemetery beside her house. It is this book that brings about the appearance of five dead kids, representing various historical eras (an aspiring loyalist shipbuilder, a depression era quintuplet, an underground railroad escapee, a Scottish immigrant from the early 1900s, and a Native activist). Their deaths are mysterious, but the reader is led to believe that they will one day be explained. I am always on the look out for a good supporting cast, and I especially took to October’s living friends- an unassuming, mild mannered boy named Stacey and the indomitable Yumi Takeshi. This trio of lovable outcasts have some great dialogue and their camaraderie feels authentic.

Canadian history is a much moaned about topic among students, who find it too dull, too diplomatic, and lacking in drama. Frieda Wishinksy’s  Canadian Flyer series (for wee ones), Eric Wilson’s Tom and Liz Austen mysteries (a much adored series from my childhood that is perhaps in need of a cover makeover), and Scholastic’s uber successful Dear Canada and it’s brother series, I Am Canada, have gone to great lengths to improve the impressions young Canadians have about their country’s history. Munday’s new series is a welcome black sheep to this literary family, touching on various historical periods with tongue placed firmly in cheek.

Fun, fresh and punchy, The Dead Kid Detective Agency adds life and a good dose of humour to Canadian history.

Available from ECW Press in September 2011.

If you are in Toronto and would like to attend the launch, you can find out more about that at Evan’s website here.