Mini-responses on what I’ve read lately:
RAMPANT by Diana Peterfreund
The first few pages hooked me in on the basis of concept alone (an order of girls who fight killer unicorns!), and I continued to read because I had to know what would happen, and because the book kept raising questions and mysteries I had to know the answer to. I didn’t actually get all my answers, but I got enough to feel satisfied. Plus, there’s a sequel coming! My favorite character would be a spoiler to name, but I loved every scene featuring that character and look forward to more. I was very interested to see how the various issues related to feminism and the fact that the girls’ powers are tied to their virginity played out. I appreciated that it was very much a dialog and discussion, allowing the reader to consider the issue (rather than a vehicle for a specific “message”).
CITY OF ASHES by Cassandra Clare
I’m hooked. I love the characters and at this point I am very invested in finding out the rest of their story. I can see why there are so many die-hard fans. On to book 3!
ILLYRIA by Elizabeth Hand
A lovely little book with some absolutely gorgeous language. I still can’t decide if I think it was a depressing or an uplifting ending, although I am leaning toward depressing (which doesn’t mean it was a bad book). This did feel like more of an “adult” book to me in terms of some of the themes (and there’s mature content throughout). It also struck me as an emotion-driven book. It has a very specific feel in my head: not entirely comfortable, but compelling. It reminds me, in some ways, of Pamela Dean’s TAM LIN.
CITY DOG, COUNTRY FROG by Mo Williams and Jon J Muth
I don’t necessarily think other readers will love this like I do. Because honestly I think the main reason I both sought it out in the first place (I hardly ever read picture books but from the first time this showed up in my google reader I had to know more) was that City Dog looks very much like a brown-and-white version of my dog Charlie. But I did love it, especially the illustrations (which looked oddly familiar to me in style — I finally realized the artist was one of my favorites from the Sandman comics). It also made me sniffle, and think about friendship, and change, and (hokey as it sounds) the cycle of life. I add very few picture books to my personal library but this will be one of them.
