Gary D. Schmidt is proof of that truth that very few young writers like overmuch to hear: a superimposed structure, by which you MUST abide in your stGary D. Schmidt is proof of that truth that very few young writers like overmuch to hear: a superimposed structure, by which you MUST abide in your storytelling, is actually very very good for your storytelling. The way the labors correlate to Hercules’s real life isn’t perfect, but it’s good.
The writing, also, would be gimmicky if it was bad, but since it’s good it’s genius. (How other people feel about The Book Thief, I guess.)
I like that Hercules likes Simon & Garfunkel (since his mom did, but still), and will therefore halfway forgive him for his horrendous opinions on Vivaldi (which most kids don’t actually share, in my experience), and I like that Viola’s idea of being hip is liking Simon & Garfunkel in addition to long-dead classical composers (it’s me, guys, I’m Viola).
The Cape Cod setting is also so vivid and atmospheric in a way I don’t remember from Schmidt’s other books. The theme of roots and loving the home you have is also stronger here. It’s good. This hasn’t toppled Okay for Now, for me, as the definitive Best Gary D. Schmidt Book Ever, but it’s its own thing, and in a really good way....more
Delightful, as you might expect. I’m not a huge fan of the ending twist that basically sets up the aftermath of this series to diverge into alternate Delightful, as you might expect. I’m not a huge fan of the ending twist that basically sets up the aftermath of this series to diverge into alternate history—that’s not a form of historical fantasy I can wrap my head around or bring myself to like—but I am such a fan of Edith & Co. and of gentle wit, compassionate prose, and every kind of dragon your heart could desire! (I am also a huge fan of Tallantire and Crispin, and I say firmly that there should have been much more of them. But you can’t do everything with a book.)...more
Didn’t quite have that 4-stars spark, but I very much enjoyed this and it put me in the mood for Christmas decorating. (Now if only I had time for ChrDidn’t quite have that 4-stars spark, but I very much enjoyed this and it put me in the mood for Christmas decorating. (Now if only I had time for Christmas decorating)...more
this is the most i've enjoyed a sabatini book since i first read scaramouche, i think. sabatini is just a ton of fun.this is the most i've enjoyed a sabatini book since i first read scaramouche, i think. sabatini is just a ton of fun....more
at this point i think we all know i'm trash for anything w. r. gingell writesat this point i think we all know i'm trash for anything w. r. gingell writes...more
My favorite of the series so far! Alllll the literary references (the Red-Headed League one, in particular, had me squealing) -- and mad scientists --My favorite of the series so far! Alllll the literary references (the Red-Headed League one, in particular, had me squealing) -- and mad scientists -- and danger in the London streets (and a description of the historical Lady Battersea's house that made me want to just kinda...melt into a print being and swim in those paragraphs for eternity) -- and the dignity of man -- and MORE ADORABLE DRAGONS -- and Edith being a clergyman's daughter world without end amen --
( -- and John Tallantire and Crispin, my precious boys -- )
-- and clever-but-subtextually-rich light banter (oh how I love clever but subtextually rich light banter). I particularly loved one exchange with Janushek:
"Don't lose heart yet. We might win," I said. "Farley's weakness is that he believes might makes right." "And yours is that you believe right makes might," Janushek retorted, "when sometimes all it makes is martyrs."...more
Something I continue to appreciate is how well they incorporate social issues? So many of them, but none owhen I tell you these books were MADE for me
Something I continue to appreciate is how well they incorporate social issues? So many of them, but none of them forced in against the plot’s will, none of them jarring the reader with the realization that clearly this book was written in the twenty-first century, not the nineteenth… Edith (charming, courageous, unconventional clergyman’s daughter) is a heroine with the correct “modern” opinions on a lot of these things but feels entirely of her time, not like a twenty-first century girl dropped into late-Victorian England (one of my pet abominations).
On the made for me note, I will also NEVER get tired of watching rich arrogant men who think they can run the world better than God and anyone else get taken down. (I hope they truly, fully get taken down in the end.)
Lily’s story in the last chapter did disturb me. Not gratuitous, but just…oh God. Made me appreciate that the author included a note on content at the front, even though I didn’t read it till after....more
this book made ancient rome a real place to third-grade me. tired, anemic adult me reread it the other day because tired, anemic adult me wanted sometthis book made ancient rome a real place to third-grade me. tired, anemic adult me reread it the other day because tired, anemic adult me wanted something she knew she liked and that required zero brain power to read but also that she didn’t remember every last detail of; and, surprisingly or not, it quite held up....more
quitting at page like 700 because i will not fall into the sunk-cost fallacy trap! i will not! and actually because i’m just done reading about adulterquitting at page like 700 because i will not fall into the sunk-cost fallacy trap! i will not! and actually because i’m just done reading about adultery. i’m just so incredibly done.
the episode with byron trapped in poland, especially warsaw, during the nazi invasion is fantastic historical writing, though....more
This book did some stuff that I never see done, so well, and it made me so happy.
In particular, I have whatever deep-seated suspicion of perfect wise This book did some stuff that I never see done, so well, and it made me so happy.
In particular, I have whatever deep-seated suspicion of perfect wise queenly beneficent mother/female mentor characters. Generally they’re written poorly because people who aren’t Tolkien are bad at writing goodness (or at least mature goodness), but even when they’re written well I immediately disconnect from the story because I do not believe it. You are not this perfect. This does not ring true. You are hiding something. There is a dark side to this. STOP TELLING ME HOW PERFECT THIS IS, I DON’T BELIEVE YOU.
Now, we could discuss whether that’s on me or on writers and characters, but it IS how I react to those perfect, queenly mother figures. So you literally have no idea how satisfying it was to read Helena’s portrayal in this book. Not least because her specific issue is one I’ve thought about a lot and see a lot of in farming families in rural communities around where I live…there’s something beautiful about them and all the virtues they have that the world has left behind, but except in very special cases get to know them and you realize they’re also a roosting place for a lot of sins the world has left behind. No place on earth is without its own particular type of rot, more or less advanced. Helena’s brand is…I dunno, but one that particularly interests me thematically. Really, it’s one I actively try to reject in my own actions, so seeing Edith also do that was really cool.
Actually, Edith in general continues to be awesome; in a book of ancestral secrets, delightfully historical dragonish worldbuilding, wonderful families, a Jewish character that I love deeply (and who ever writes about Jewish characters in Victorian England??? there were so many of them but they never show up as characters in stories of the era??? why???), and themes that consistently hit right where I’m at, the best part is without a doubt the character of Edith. Her narration is so convincingly young (yet mature), and she’s funny, and she’s actively trying to grow in virtue, and she’s competent but awkward and sincere and…she’s just such a real young woman.
I also love the part where she’s like “oh no I must be very aggressively my very-not-angelic self so he doesn’t idolize me and then he won’t fall any deeper in love” and then of course he just falls in love more because what he loves IS the real, awkward, down-to-earth, unexpected Edith.
(Three stars rather than four for enjoyment because while I loved basically everything about this, it absolutely felt like the first third of a full story that just got arbitrarily cut off. I know a lot of series do it but it drives me crazy, personally, and affects my enjoyment of a story a lot. Sadly. Can’t wait to get my hands on Castle of the Winds!)...more
I enjoyed this a lot. It was a very refreshing bit of literature to read over a week of lunch breaks. The high mountain country is beautifully evoked,I enjoyed this a lot. It was a very refreshing bit of literature to read over a week of lunch breaks. The high mountain country is beautifully evoked, and the characters, without much attention being drawn to it, are characterized and developed in very fine detail. And I really liked the two of them, too.
I don’t know how to put it except that this book was solid. No notes. Written with the lovely, light prose of a Mary Stewart novel but also touched with the inescapable severity of the post-WW1 American West setting, it’s every good adventure-coming-of-age book you read as a teenager, and it just holds up because it’s unpretentiously good. I plan to read lots more Elisabeth Grace Foley....more
*weeps* someone did it. someone wrote historical fantasy the way i want it written. and about the first crusade, no less??? guyyyys. even if this hadn*weeps* someone did it. someone wrote historical fantasy the way i want it written. and about the first crusade, no less??? guyyyys. even if this hadn't had really good characterization and prose and themes and a frankish count who's just up in here tryna keep his people alive on this pilgrimage that he feels like he has to take for the good of his soul (ahhhh the delicious inner conflict i live for!!!), i would've been in love.
i've wanted to read suzannah rowntree for ages. mostly because of her fairy-tale retellings. i'm sure those are great, but THIS is what i live for and i will definitely be finishing this series first because it's historical fantasy emphasis on the well-researched actual history that did not annoy me even once....more
this book read like how i find out stuff about history--little fragments of primary sources here, there, & everywhere, adding up (sometimes surprisingthis book read like how i find out stuff about history--little fragments of primary sources here, there, & everywhere, adding up (sometimes surprisingly) to wholes over time. i enjoyed it, it was comfortable to read...it also wasn't exactly entirely...cohesive....more
So I got an ARC of this book, right. (my opinions of this book or how I expressed them in this review were not affected by that in any way, yadayada)
ASo I got an ARC of this book, right. (my opinions of this book or how I expressed them in this review were not affected by that in any way, yadayada)
And I really liked it, right?
I did. Which I will tell you all about in a moment. But let me first get the stuff out of the way that either bothered me or may bother others ('cause it's nice to know that stuff, I think).
So, anyway, I was super excited about this book, so I cracked it open (metaphorically speaking, I cracked it open on my phone) and started reading.
And the first chapter was, like, this cartoon villain doing his cartoon-villain narration thing, and I was like........i really hate when books do this but i know lots of otherwise good books start out with a prologue pov from the villain and it's regrettable but fine, so i will persevere.
And then the second chapter was a fourteen-year-old girl being taken away by force from her home and imprisoned by strangers, with no ability to physically combat this, no agency, no ability to get away, no ability to tell anyone what's happened to her, and no hope that any of that will ever change.
And if this had not been an ARC, I would've stopped reading there. Because I almost couldn't handle it.
SO. I just want to say: 1) That happens, and 2) It is unnecessary to read that chapter to enjoy the book, if that would bother you and you'd rather just skip it, and the references to it throughout the rest of the book are much less...they bothered me less. The rest of the book is very much worth reading, is what I'm saying.
Unfortunately (for me, because I am eternally bored by villain POVs), the villain POV does return a few times, but it's not nearly as present throughout the book as it is in the beginning.
The other thing we're gonna get out of the way is the language. More than I expected and honestly more than I am used to around the cowboys I know? I thought at first it would be a thing where they talk that way around each other but moderate (and apologize for saying things accidentally) around Meg, because that's by and large my experience of these kinds of guys. But no. Swearing in front of your wife/your boss's wife is just...normal. Ngl that felt weird.
Okay but I am done complaining now because as much as there were a few things that felt weak to me--and as much as I don't like present tense narration--or multiple POVs--or villain POVs--or even romance, generally--this book was...it was...
*waves hands* It was good, okay?? I may have had nitpicks, but the prose was not just vivid, it was beautiful. We are talking Stiefvater levels of spare-but-effective and unexpected-yet-simple-yet-shockingly-apt metaphors. We are talking the feel of rough-sweat-slicked horse beneath you, the blue sunny weight of endless western sky, the biting cold of mountain river, the bone-chilling cold of early-morning pasture visits in foolishly bare feet, the smoky coziness of ranch house in winter...ALL THE THINGS, expressed much better than I could.
And we are talking characters that jump to painfully loveable life. Meg and George not least--talk about marriage of convenience done right, guys--but also OBIE. Can I marry Obie. And Cam and Jack and Quino, my precious boys, and Brian, my precious shy Irish lad, and mostly Obie because y'all I adore Obie's and George's relationship so frickin' much, like the way George listens to him???? This is what George needs in his life.
Meg is also what George needs in his life AND DID I MENTION HOW MUCH I LOVED HOW SO MANY OF THE LITTLE THEMATIC THINGS WERE HANDLED? Like how the secrets came out, how people learned to trust each other and to care for each other, how people learned this is what you have to do, how Meg learned to grow past her fear and understand that she's not alone, but no one--author nor character--is pushing her to be able to do things that she just cannot do yet. (Yeah I was really glad the book ended the way it did.) I love how this whole book is just people loving each other and doing literally everything to protect each other. It's so beautiful. The moment I fell for George was basically when he met the doctor in the inn and he was like hell yeah I will do literally anything to keep this girl out of your hands. Like, what any decent man would do, right? But George did it.
(And I loved how George was so much a guy? Like, not a woman's-idea-of-a-guy, or a woman's-idea-of-wouldn't-it-be-nice-if-a-guy-thought-like-this, but an actual guy. It's so nice.)
'K, this review is degenerating into unorganized fangirling over my favorite characters (not that it was terribly organized to start with), but just...read it, okay? It's not a perfect book, but I loved it and I am so looking forward to reading more from Katie Hanna! And I didn't even mention it's a fantasy Western, which is also cool. Maneating Irish water horses plus cowboys?? How can you resist? You literally can't, okay???...more