The Pain Merchants - Janice Hardy

Series: The Healing Wars, #1
ISBN: 9780061747045
Genre: Fantasy
Audience: Young Adult / Middle Grade
Overall Rating: 7/10

Summary:
Nya doesn't have the talent to work in the League like her sister Tali. She is unable to heal and transfer pain into pynvium, a special kind of stone that is able to hold a person's hurts. Instead, Nya has a different kind of talent: she can transfer pain from one person to another. Her abilities have been kept a well-guarded secret--if the Duke knew what she could do, she would be used as a weapon in his army. But when Tali goes missing, Nya will do anything to get her back. Including revealing her abilities to people who could use it against her.

Plot:
The storyline of this novel (which, I feel I should mention, is also called "The Shifter" in the US!) is unique and intriguing. People who can heal and take pain away, not so original--but that these people are largely dependent on pynvium in which to place that pain or suffer the hurts they healed themselves, that is something different. It's also a sort of "real" aspect that I appreciate. Pain doesn't just mysteriously vanish into the world of magic. Instead, pynvium is necessary for healing to go smoothly, and when that pynvium runs out, well--that's when the problems start.

The first three-quarters of this book were well-executed and fun to read. I kept turning pages and finished most of it in a day. Action scenes were well-written and interactions between characters engrossing. However, I then hit a very odd chapter where it seemed like things were moving too quickly, a pace that continued for the rest of the book. I couldn't help but wonder if the author had been forced to cut a lot out. I say that because the book is 291 pages, 3 off the "usual" 288. It read like it had been heavily edited, leaving the bones of the story for that last quarter. Actions weren't explained as well, it felt rushed, and it felt like it could use a lot more fleshing out than it was given. In short, this book could have been much longer, and if that last quarter had been given the same amount of attention as the first part of the book, I wouldn't have minded extra length in the least!

Characters:
I have to admit, towards the end, Nya got on my nerves a little bit. She did grow as a character but it didn't seem like she grew all that much. As such, her "big decision" at the end which will undoubtedly lead to a sequel seemed sort of out of place--but again, this might be because the last quarter of the story felt so rushed. Otherwise, she was a nice character to follow: she didn't act that bitter about her sister being in the League when she wasn't, she clearly cared about family, and she struggled through some moral decisions and  knew where to draw the line.

A lot of the other characters I could take or leave. I didn't feel overly attached to any of them, which I think is due to there being so many of them. To me, it seems like a lot of the extra characters could have been cut or combined. Poor Soek barely got any time at all, and he interested me a great deal. Aylin seemed a bit pointless and probably could have been cut entirely. There are ways Nya could have gotten around without her. I thought Danello and Jeator could have been combined into one character fairly easily, thus giving "Dantor" twice the amount of page time.

That strange chapter I mentioned before that heralded the start of that final quarter was a scene including all of these characters, making for a sort of rushed, confusing read that made me wonder why a lot of them were there. Particularly Soek, which made me sad. Again, he seemed incredibly interesting but I thought his very small role could have been done without.

Setting:
Though the actual setting wasn't incredibly well established, I felt that I had enough of an idea to get by for a fun read. That is, the setting was a fantasy town/city, with quirky elements like healing and pynvium, but didn't have a lot that distinguished it from other fantasies. The setting itself wasn't especially unique. That doesn't bother me that much. There was enough description for me to get by, and if I was looking for something "epic" I'd be reading Lord of the Rings.

That said, I do wish the political situation had been explained in a bit more detail--but that could just be me. The political situation didn't have a lot of bearing on the actual story, but interested me in that I believe it would have set this world apart from others. There was a bit of information about it, but it left me wanting more. Of course, that's a bit of a judgment call--after all, if it doesn't have much to do with the storyline, why put it in there? But I think it WILL have quite a bit of bearing on the sequel, so I hope the author goes into more detail then.

Birthmarked - Caragh M. O'Brien

Series: Birthmarked, #1
ISBN:  9781596435698

Genre: Dystopian

Audience: Young Adult

Overall Rating: 10/10

Summary:

Gaia Stone lives outside of the Enclave near the shores of Unlake Superior. Trained as a midwife by her mother, it is Gaia’s job to advance a quota of three babies per month to the Enclave, where they’re given a “better” life. But all is not well within the enclave. When Gaia’s parents are arrested, she must go against everything she’s been taught in order to rescue them. But in doing so, she places what the Enclave so desperately wants straight to their hands. And leaving with her life intact seems to be nothing more than a dream.

Plot:

I had been thinking about reading this book since seeing it in a catalog used to order books for work. I hadn’t picked it up, though, because it didn’t seem to be quite my style. How wrong I was. The plot was deep and unpredictable, with twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. I found Gaia’s adventures interesting and suspenseful to follow, with the result that I might have set the book down once in order to reapply sunscreen (it was one of my Florida beach reads!) before starting right back in again.

The powerful Enclave made an imposing enemy. The thought of a utopia has kind of terrified me since reading The Giver in eighth grade, and this was no less terrifying. Instead of admitting problems (like chronic anemia due to a small genetic pool), they attempted to cover it up and make it seem like everything was hunky-dory, when in fact, all was not. It showed what a government could be if it became too powerful. And who wouldn’t find the prospect of having a newborn child taken away from them absolutely horrifying?

Chilling. I think chilling is the word I’m looking for—and Birthmarked managed it.

Characters:

Gaia Stone is one of those characters that confuses me, but I think that means that she was well developed. I tend to prefer characters I can identify with—characters who have some traits that I think I have, too. I didn’t see that with Gaia, but I still liked her as a character. She was likable, but not perfect, and she grew stronger throughout the story.

The cast of supporting characters was varied and eccentric. Each character had their own motives and histories that enriched the story and made me want to keep reading. Good characters are, in my opinion, the number one factor in a story that can make it or break it, and Birthmarked succeeded in making it.

Setting:

One of the setting points that made me grin was the Unlake Superior. I haven’t figured out if the book is set in Canada or Michigan (or Minnesota or Wisconsin, I suppose!), but I liked trying to visualize that massive body of water where I’ve spent some time just GONE. It might not be quite as daunting to someone who hasn’t seen how expansive the Great Lakes are, but it certainly added to the overall feeling of the book for me.

The rest of the setting—the Enclave, the town outside the enclave, the plight of the people living outside—are all richly described, leaving me wanting nothing more. The mixture of “ancient” technology (read: our modern technology), and the necessity to go back to actually-ancient-technology in order to deal with the lack of resources was executed flawlessly.

Also, the culture of the people, which I’m including in setting for lack of a better place to put it, seemed well developed. I love that—it’s something some fantasy/sci-fi books leave out, developing a good culture for the people they’re living with. It was needed in this book, too, because it showed the reader that taking away people’s children was a matter of course for midwives and the people, which makes it all the more horrifying.

A Spy in the House - Y.S. Lee

Series: The Agency, #1
ISBN:  9780763640675

Genre: Historical Fiction/Mystery

Audience: Middle Grade / YA

Overall Rating: 7/10

Summary:

In 1850s London, Mary Lang was plucked from the hangman’s noose—almost literally—and offered a place at Miss Scrimshaw’s Academy for Girls. Finished with her education, Mary is informed that, should she choose to accept it, she may have a future with The Agency—a network of women spies handpicked by the academy who do important investigative work for the Scotland Yard, among others. Mary is placed as a companion to the daughter of a rich family whose father is suspected of dodgy dealings in opium. As the mission progresses and conflicts come to a head, it seems more and more likely that Mary’s first assignment might also be her last.

Plot:

I like to think of this as an old-fashioned, London-style Nancy Drew mystery (which I hope is taken as a compliment). As a mystery itself, it was a bit predictable, but I think that’s because I’m older than the intended audience. As a twelve year old, I think I would have found it suspenseful and intriguing. As it was, I barely set it down (but I love mystery, London, AND the 1800s, so you know).

The plot was well-executed, with enough hints dropped and a few surprises on the way—though like I said, younger kids might find more surprises than I did. I actually read the sequel as well (The Body at the Tower) and found it just as enjoyable, which I think predicts a good, new series of mystery books for young people.

Characters:

I loved the characters in this book. They seemed perfect—Mary was strong and eager, but made a lot of mistakes along the way, which she wasn’t too strong-willed to learn from. Her partner in crime(solving), James Easton, is exactly the kind of male character I like to see: he accepted Mary’s eccentricities but still allowed himself to get angry with her. He wasn’t besotted and he wasn’t stupid, either.

The cast of other characters were rich in personality and description, and some had a lot more depth to them than first thought. I enjoyed watching all of the characters grow and change as the story progressed, and it was the characters themselves more than the plotline that kept me guessing and turning pages throughout the story, something I always love.

Setting:

As far as place goes, I thought the polluted London air and water, the geography, and the city was all described quite well. I found myself reminiscing about my months in London and remembering exactly what if felt like to walk along the Thames (though it wasn’t quite as smelly!), or visit the suburbs described.

In terms of time, though, I think that some more research—or application of research—could have been done. I didn’t feel immersed in 1850. The language sometimes slipped into a more modern tongue. The general feel was off a bit, but I didn’t think that it detracted from the story much. Then again, I read this purely for enjoyment without looking too closely at issues that would usually bother me.

The Pale Assassin - Patricia Elliott

Series: The Pimpernelles, #1
ISBN:  9780823422500

Genre: Historical Fiction

Audience: Middle Grade / YA

Overall Rating: 3-6/10**

Summary:

Eugenie de Boncoeur is a young French aristocrat swept up in the trials of the French Revolution. An initial encounter with an angry mob at a convent (where she had been sent to be kept safe) leaves Eugenie curious about the revolution. She ends up fleeing Paris for England, where her mother’s family lives, when a plot to rescue the doomed king fails—a plot in which her beloved brother was partially involved. But along the way Eugenie learns that she is fleeing something else: a marriage agreement to the richest, most unsavory man in Paris, which was made without her knowledge. Le Fantome, as the man is called, will pursue Eugenie to the edge of France and will stop at nothing to make her his bride.

**Plot:

The rating is a bit oddly done because of the plot. Personally, I didn’t like this book nearly as much as I thought I should have. It was bogged down with so much description and set-up of the Revolution that the first half of the book went slowly for me. I almost set it down. The first half basically sets up the Revolution and the general atmosphere of France at the time, which is probably needed to really get into the plot—but for a history major like me, who tends to look up random historical events and research them for fun, the French Revolution was old news, and the sort of “watered down” version here didn’t seem quite as exciting. Not to mention, Eugenie wasn’t really involved in much of it, but that’s a discussion for the character section.

However, I believe that you need the French Revolution background to get as much as you could out of the plot, setting, and character. Without the background, it wouldn’t have the same kind of feeling. So for people who don’t know much about history, the background was probably more interesting and faster-paced than I thought it was. And that’s why I gave this book a split rating, because I think it would be much more enjoyable to people who aren’t me.

The latter half of the book was much more exciting, featuring a well-thought-out getaway plan that goes awry, a couple of deaths, a nice boat chase, and endangering kindly people housing runaways. After I got into the action, it actually was difficult to put the book down. At first I didn’t think I’d read the rest of the series, but now I’m definitely considering it. Perhaps the next books won’t have so much history to them.

That said, it didn’t feel like this book was self-contained. I mean, I love a good series, but I feel like each book within the series needs to be more or less self-contained with its own plot, rather than left completely open-ended. For instance, His Dark Materials: to put it very simply, in the first book Lyra sets off to find the Gobblers and free the stolen children. She does this, but it just so happens that doing so opens up a new can of worms. Enter The Subtle Knife. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: the Triwizard Tournament starts and ends, but it just so happens that Voldemort returns, thus making way for Order of the Phoenix. Each plot is completed within the book, but leaves room for a sequel. The Triwizard Tournament doesn’t continue in Order of the Phoenix, and Lyra doesn’t leave in the middle of battling the Gobblers.

I guess what I’m trying to get at is that it seemed, at the start of this book, that there would be some closure with Le Fantome, but I never got it. It was like the book ended in the rising action without ever reaching the climax. I feel like the first half of the book could have been quartered, leaving room for the exciting end to be an exciting middle, and made way for a satisfying ending. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, which is partially why my personal rating is so low.

Characters:

Eugenie herself was also problematic for me. On the one hand, she is a very realistic young female French aristocrat from the time: kept safe and unaware of the happenings of the Revolution, pampered and cared for, a bit naïve. What’s great about Eugenie is that she does become curious, and becomes strong enough to lie to a bunch of guardsmen, knock a man over the head with a chair, and fire a gun at an attacking boat. She just wasn’t a favorite character of mine because she was so ridiculously unaware in the first part of the book. And by ridiculously, I mean believably, but it was frustrating as I prefer stronger female characters. But like I said, her character was realistic given the time and place.

I quite liked Eugenie’s brother, Armand, who continuously fought for what he believed in. While he tried to keep Eugenie safe and away from danger (which led me to dislike HER), again, his actions seemed believable to me.

As for Julien de Fortin, I thought his character was fine until a relationship with Eugenie burgeoned out of nowhere. I think the plot was meant to be “there’s a thin line between love and hate” but I just didn’t see it. Perhaps the characters themselves were wrong for it in my head—now, if they were more like Mel and Vidanric, that I could see. They pull it off well. Eugenie and Julien, not so much.

The villain, Le Fantome, was your typical evil-guy-wants-girl. He was suitably creepy and obsessive, and made me hope on every page that he never got his hands on Eugenie. Good villain, then.

As for Guy, I was still a bit confused as to what his game/motive was. But then again, I was reading this with a fever, so that could have been part of it.

Setting:

Setting was one of the things I didn’t have too much of a problem with. I would have liked more description in places—what exactly do the Tuilleries Gardens look like?—but I admired the author’s ability to sneak in French words into dialogue. Also, the sense of time was well-written, and it was clear she had done a lot of research on the French Revolution, mannerisms of the people at the time, and the like.

The Goose Girl – Shannon Hale

Series: The Books of Bayern, #1
ISBN: 9781582349909
Genre: Fantasy – Fairytale Retelling

Audience: Middle Grade / YA

Overall Rating: 8/10

Summary:
When Princess Ani develops the ability to communicate with animals, her mother decides to send her away to be the queen of a foreign land. Ani never makes it that far. Betrayed by her guard, Ani is left to fend for herself and takes a job as a goose girl in the palace where she was meant to be queen. As she devises a plan to take back her crown, she befriends the eclectic mix of common workers who provide her with a life she didn’t know she could have. But she learns that while it might be difficult to prove who she is to the king and the prince she was meant to marry, finding who she is will be a different challenge altogether.

Plot:
First off, I want to say that I’ve been meaning to read this book for years but never picked it up. It was well worth the wait. The Goose Girl is based on the story of the same name by the Brothers Grimm and is every bit as magical as could be hoped. While I’d never read the fairy tale and can’t vouch for how well it stuck to or contributed to the fairytale, I can say that the plot was enjoyable.

That said, I did see the little twists and turns coming. The plot was not at all surprising to me, but it was one of those that didn’t bother me because the book was well written and had wonderful characters to back it up. Really, the predictability of the plot was what dragged the score down more than anything else, and you see that the score isn’t that low. I’m definitely going to read the sequels. In fact, I’m about twenty pages into the second one.

Characters:
Though Ani wasn’t, perhaps, my favorite of main characters, she was an effective and efficient one. I liked her realistic view of the world, and her willingness to accept a Goose Girl position was done in a realistic and intelligent manner. That is, there was no expected whining as one might get when dealing with a princess-turned-goose girl, nor was there an unrealistic automatic acceptance. Ani slid into her new role gracefully but naturally.

The other characters were the most fun. Enna, Geric, Conrad—I even liked Ani’s mother. All of them provided a fun, eccentric cast that made for an interesting book.

Setting:
The setting was one of my very favorite parts of this book. The world is brought to life in vivid descriptions that made me feel like I was in Kildenree and Bayern. Each country had its quirks which pushed the story further. And like I said, it was all gorgeously described. I could find no fault with it.