Books Blog : love, speculative fiction

The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 20:49:00 GMT

Sarah Addison Allen has charmed me with every one of her novels and her most recent, The Girl Who Chased the Moon, is no exception. I loved every minute with Emily, Julia, Vance, Stella, Sawyer and Win. I want to eat cake made by Julia, see the wallpaper change in Emily's bedroom and just experience the little bit of magic all of these people have in their lives.

Teenager Emily Benedict has come to Mullaby, North Carolina to live with her grandfather, Vance Shelby, also known as the Giant of Mullaby because he's "tall enough to see into tomorrow"-- over eight feet tall. Emily has never met her grandfather or visited Mullaby, where her recently deceased mother grew up. She doesn't know what to expect and there are a number of surprises awaiting her, some of them upsetting, some of them comforting.

Meanwhile, Julia Winterson wants nothing more than to leave Mullaby and move back to Maryland. Julia may have grown up in this small town, but now she is a temporary, maybe not so welcome fixture, or so she thinks. Julia inherited her father's BBQ restaurant in Mullaby. While she leaves most of the running of the restaurant to her staff, she bakes fabulous cakes and pastries fresh each morning as town is waking up. When the mortgage on the restaurant is paid off, she plans to sell it and open her own bakery in Baltimore. Emily is a great character, but Julia is my favorite.

Sarah Addison Allen's two previous novels are Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen. I think of the three, The Girl Who Chased the Moon is probably my least favorite, but don't let that put you off. I still loved it and recommend it very much; I just like the other two a little better. I don't want to go into detail about why I like this one just a little less, for fear of giving away a big part of the story.

One difference between The Girl Who Chased the Moon and its predecessors that I found kind of nice is that there isn't a really bad guy involved in the story. Gardens Spells had David and The Sugar Queen had Julian; both were truly evil men; there's no other way for me to describe them. While that very real evil was absent from The Girl Who Chased the Moon, other touches of other-worldly, positive magic were present. As an example, the wallpaper in Emily's bedroom changes depending on her mood.

With all three novels, I've really become attached to the characters. Both main characters and supporting characters are always a treat. It's always possible to imagine her characters going on with their lives beyond the end of the book. The stories are about the past and present, but the endings are about the future and leave me feeling hopeful. Her style is becoming familiar to me and I like that because it makes the books comforting. I do hope, however, that her stories continue to remain fresh; that familiar style doesn't become same old, same old.

Colorful Fantasy Adventure

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 21:04:00 GMT

A few months ago I realized it had been a long time since I'd read any science fiction or fantasy novels. When I started making a list of titles to try, a friend recommended Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson. Now I'm recommending it to you because this is a book that has everything: mystery, romance, sword fights, political intrigue, religious debate, sarcasm and more!

Two strong female characters lead the story. Vivenna and Siri are sisters and princesses of Idris. Although Vivenna has been trained from birth to be the god king of Hallandren's bride, it is Siri who is sent to off to this foreign country to marry the god king. Vivenna, both confused about having her duty taken away from her and worried about her younger sister, takes off to Hallandren to rescue Siri from the god king.

The countries Idris and Hallandren have mostly opposite cultures, so both Siri and also Vivenna, who's been educated on the Hallandren lifestyle, experience major culture shock when they arrive in Hallandren. Idris is a quiet country with only small cities populated by worshipers of Austre, who strive to never be ostentatious. Their one god Austre is not someone they see, only someone who's good works they see. Hallandren is a bold country full of bright colors with a pantheon of gods, the most powerful of which is the god king. The Hallandren people can actually petition their gods in person at the gods' and goddess' palaces. Since the book takes place primarily in the capitol city of Hallandren, color is a very important part of the story.

Idris and Hallandren are about to go to war against each other and the two sisters, though separate, find themselves doing whatever they can to prevent it or make it easier on their beloved Idris. Meanwhile, in the court of gods, debate over the war becomes more and more heated. Most of the gods and goddesses are either strongly for or against the war, but Lightsong the Bold, a rather reluctant god, is not sure.

Each and every character brings something to this story, but some of my favorites are Vasher and his sword, Nightblood. Lightsong's high priest, who he nicknamed Scoot, is my favorite of the less central characters.The god king himself turned out to be more interesting than I thought he would.

At nearly 600 pages, Warbreaker is a little longer than most books I read, but it was well worth it. There really aren't any slow sections. Once I was in the last 200 pages, it became a real struggle to pull myself away from the story for anything at all!

To visit Brandon Sanderson's website, click here.

Love & Death

Shh_ImReading@evpl — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:42:00 GMT

Sunday night I finished reading The Ghost in Love by Jonathan Carroll. I still haven't figured out how I really feel about it. It's a little bit creepy, a little bit funny and a lot weird. It is a book that entertains, but also makes you think about some big things. It's a lot about love and how much we need it. Everything in the book changes constantly and at times I found it hard to keep track of what was happening, but that gave the book a nice momentum too. I can say with confidence that I enjoyed reading it and hope others will enjoy reading it too. To sum it up though... I don't think I can do that. Instead, I will tell you a little about the characters. They're a unique bunch.

Ben Gould loves to cook and talk about food, cares for his dog Pilot and is in love with German Landis. He had a bad fall and hit his head on a curb. He was scheduled to die that day, but he did not. Not-dying has complications of its own. German Landis is Ben Gould's (ex)girlfriend. She's an art teacher, loves Formula One racing, shares responsibility for Pilot and struggles to understand what Ben is going through. Pilot is a sort of stoic dog. His character is much rounder than most animals in works of fiction where the majority of characters are human. From the title, you know there is a ghost. Ling is Ben's ghost, even though he didn't die. Danielle Voyles is pulled into the mix because she too had an accident that was supposed to kill her but didn't. These are the main characters, but there are other interesting appearances by characters such as the Angel of Death (call him Stanley), some unique, protective creatures called verzes and others.

Have you read The Ghost in Love? What did you think of it? Have you read anything else by Jonathan Carroll?