magic

Calling on Dragons

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by Patricia Wrede
ages: 9+
First sentence: “Deep in the Enchanted Forest, in a neat gray house with a wide porch and a red roof, lived the witch Morwen and her nine cats.”
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Others in the series: Dealing with Dragons, Searching for Dragons

It’s about a year after Cimorene and Mendenbar got married, and things are afoot in the Enchanted Forest. Again. (Yes, it is the wizards. Again.) This time, Morwen was clued into the problems by a six-foot-tall rabbit named Killer. Things get a little trickier when they — Morwen, the cats, and Killer, of course — get to the castle to find out that the wizards have stolen the sword that the magic of the Enchanted Forest is tied to.

Unfortunately, that means Mendenbar (unfortunately, in A’s opinion) has to stay in the forest, while everyone else (including Killer) goes off to find the sword and get it back from those nasty wizards. They end up on a few adventures, and in some interesting pickles. Eventually, the six-foot-tall rabbit ends up a six-foot-tall blue floating donkey with wings, but that’s neither here nor there, really.

In fact, that’s kind of what we thought of this book, as well. A lost interest in it; even though I read it out loud to her, she bailed about 2/3 of the way through. And the ending — which practically requires you to read book 4 — was highly irritating.

We should have bailed at the last book, but now that I’ve come this far, I think I’m just going to have to read the next one just to see how it ends.

Searching for Dragons

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by Patricia C. Wrede
ages 9+
First sentence: “The King of the Enchanted Forest was twenty years old and lived in a rambling, scrambling, mixed-up castle somewhere near the center of his domain.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: Dealing with Dragons

The King of the Enchanted Forest, Mendenbar, doesn’t really appreciate messes. (Especially ones made by wizards.) So, when he finds a patch of his forest dead — completely void of magic and life — he’s not only annoyed, but also a bit curious. How on earth did that happen? Especially since there’s dragon scales lying around the area. That sends him off to see the King of the Dragons, Kazul, but only finds her princess, Cimorene, setting off to find Kazul, who has been missing for several days.

From there, Mendenbar and Cimorene set off on an adventure to find Kazul (and stop those pesky wizards), that will take them all over the Mountains of Morning, meeting giants, dwarves, and a theoretical magician before they will figure it all out (and rescue Kazul) in the end.

I remember listening to this one on audio years and years ago (I didn’t write a review), and I remember thoroughly enjoying it then. That hasn’t changed. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it aloud to A. Mendenbar and Cimorene are such engaging, fun, witty characters, and Wrede does a fantastic job weaving in fairy tales throughout her original story. It was a lot of fun to read for both A and me.

On to the next book!

Reread: Dealing with Dragons

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by Patricia C. Wrede
ages: 9+
First sentence: “Linderwall was a large kindgom, just east of the Mountains of Morning, where philosophers were highly respected and the number five was fashionable.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

I didn’t really give much of a review when I read this one seven (!) years ago, so I thought I’d do it up proper this time. Especially since I just finished reading it aloud to my current 8-year-old, A.

Princes Cimorene doesn’t like being a princess. She would much rather learn magic, Latin, fencing or *something* other than being proper and embroidery. So, when her parents drag her to a nearby kingdom in order to marry her off to an insipid prince, she does the only reasonable thing: she runs away and becomes a dragon’s princess. The dragon is Kazul, and she (the dragon is a she) is smart, reasonable, interesting, and makes Cimorene feel useful. So, aside from the stupid knights who keep trying to rescue her, Cimorene is perfectly happy in her new life. Then she gets wind of a plot the wizards are cooking: after the death of the king, they’re going to rig the trials in order to get Waroug, who happens to be sympathetic to the wizards, in as king. And it’s up to Cimorene (and her new friends) to stop them.

I do love these little books. Sure, they’re light and frothy fantasy, but they’re fun. And Cimorene is one of the great heroines out there: a strong, smart girl, who knows what she wants and is willing to work for it, is kind without being a pushover.  The books are funny, too: I was constantly cracking up while I read. Lest you think it goes over an 8-year-old’s head, some of it did, but I was always able to stop and catch her up. She adored Cimorene as much as I did, and is quite excited to see what adventure they go on next. And since I never did get around to reading the rest of the series, I am as well.

Audiobook: The Wee Free Men

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by Terry Pratchett
read by Stephen Briggs
ages: 9+
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

I first read The Wee Free Men two years ago, and thoroughly enjoyed every bit of the time I spent with the book. It’s hilarious, adventuresome, cool, and Tiffany Aching, even when she’s just 11 years old, is a force to be reckoned with. There’s a power in her, a determination. I love that in this world, all it takes to be a witch is powers of observation and the knowledge that you’re the only one who can do anything about the situation.

There’s magic, of course, but it’s not flashy magic. It’s quite, subtle, and still there, even after you know how it’s done.

That said, I loved hearing this book read aloud. Even more so than when I read it. It’s fine reading it and all, but nothing — nothing! — is funnier than someone doing a spot-on Scottish accent for the Nac Mac Feegle. And the voice for Toad? So deadpan, so hilarious. I laughed. So hard. Often. And I actually got the section near the end when Tiffany goes up against the Queen; something which I remember eluding me when I read it. Perhaps because listening to it means I go through things more carefully than when I read them? Whatever it is, listening to the audiobook made this books so much more loveable and enjoyable than it already was.

Which means, of course, that I’m going to have to listen to the rest of the Tiffany Aching books.

Audiobook: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

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by J. K. Rowling
read by Jim Dale
ages: 7+
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

This was A’s choice to listen to as we traveled south for spring break. She’s is a Harry Potter nut, having convinced Hubby to read the first four books out loud to her. So, of course, she wanted to listen to the books again. This wasn’t her first choice, but as K is only not-quite-five, it’s the one that I thought would work best for the family.

And since I don’t have a review of this book here — I first read it in 1999, for a book club at a children’s bookstore in DC — I thought I’d give my impressions of it, even if everyone knows about the books (and Jim Dale’s reading of it) already.

Our first impression was that Jim Dale is a grand narrator, great with suspense and nuance and voices, most of which we liked. Except Hermione. Maybe it’s because by now the movies are really ingrained in our brains, but his Hermione was a whiner. And it drove us all bonkers. Other than that, though, he managed to keep everyone straight for us (and the cast of characters is huge), and kept us engaged in the story.

And the story? It’s Harry Potter! It was nice to visit that world again; I haven’t picked up a book since finishing the seventh one several years ago. (And the movies don’t count. Not really.) I was reminded how wonderful Rowling is at world-building, and how much this one stands alone. Though I also noticed details that were picked up in the later books: the big plotlines, of course, but also little things (and dang if I can’t remember them now!). Not to mention all the little ways the book is different from the movie; C — who really didn’t read the books at all — noticed that the most, and even picked up the book when we got home, rereading several sections.

In short: it was a good book for a long road trip.

I Shall Wear Midnight

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by Terry Pratchett
ages: 13+
First sentence: “Why was it, Tiffany Aching wondered, that people liked noise so much?”
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Tiffany Aching has discovered that she was a witch, gone through training, accidentally joined a dance she shouldn’t have and had to kiss the winter as a result. Now, she’s back at the Chalk, a sixteen-year-old girl, trying to manage her stead as a witch. It’s not going too horribly: she’s managing to get the things done that need doing. Until one day, things start to unravel. It began with a beating of a young girl by her father, and the rough music started. Then it morphed into something grander: Roland’s engagement to Letitia, daughter of an uppity Duchess, the Baron’s death, and a growing resentment and fear of witches. It turned out that Tiffany had accidentally let out something quite evil, something which, if left to roam, will result in the demise of all the witches. And it’s up to her to make things right again.

I know it sounds dark, and there are some dark moments, but this book is so wonderfully affirming, so incredibly hopeful, that it isn’t the dark bits that stand out. While it’s not as hilarious as some of the other books in the series, it’s still quite amusing. And Tiffany really, truly grows into her own. She has to give up some things, and learn some things, and make some difficult decisions, but she does it all. And she makes some new friends, looking past prejudice and bad first impressions to see that everyone is wonderfully more complicated and interesting that we give them credit for at first.

A perfect ending for an excellent series.

Wintersmith

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by Terry Pratchett
ages: 12+
First sentence (not including the Nac Mac Feegle glossary): “When the storm came, it hit the hills like a hammer.”

I got this email from Laura from Life after Jane yesterday that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. She says,

You never get just a story with Pratchett. You get life lessons and a unique way of looking at things. I’ve heard him called the Douglas Adams of fantasy fiction but I have to disagree. If you ever read any of the Hitchhiker’s Guide series you’ll notice that fabulous and witty as it is, Adams clearly didn’t like people. With Pratchett I’m always amazed how he can poke fun at the silly, pettiness of people while at the same time expressing a very real and warm love of them. I always finish his books feeling that he has a very profound point and that he really just adores everything and everyone.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it because she’s absolutely right. It’s the reason why his books are so delightful — even if they’re not quite as soaring as the other books in the series — why you find yourself laughing out loud or nodding in agreement: because Pratchett cares, and it comes across in the writing.

Like the other two books in the Tiffany Aching adventures, the plot really isn’t what matters. It’s the characters — in this one we have the Wintersmith and Roland, who are both infatuated with Tiffany, even if she’s not really that interested, and Nanny Ogg whom you just want to hug, as well as ones from the other books — and the little nuggets of wisdom or humor that are littered throughout. My mom said that she thought these were good “girl” books, but I’ll take it a step further: these are just good books.

And Pratchett is definitely a good writer.

Buy it at: Amazon, Powell’s or your local independent bookstore.

The Wee Free Men

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by Terry Pratchett
ages: 12+
First sentence: “Some things start before other things.”

 Yes, I’m here in Cincinnati, enjoying the lull in the reunion (there’s an awesome uncle who make a great playmate, and the rest of us thoroughly enjoy the downtime… though they do come away really wound up)… it’s been fun being with family.
And I managed to get a bit of reading done in the cracks. In fact, it was kind of hard to get it read because I’d leave it lying around, and I’d come back and find it had been snatched up by one family member or another. Which is a testament to how fun this little novel is.
Tiffany is a nine year old girl, the daughter of sheepherder, who isn’t really noticed by much of anything, especially now that Granny Aching has died. That is, until the day when she saw a monster come out of the river. She hit the monster with a frying pan, and the path of her life was changed: she was a witch. That, and her younger brother was stolen by the Queen of Faeries. Tiffany, being the sort of girl she is, decides not to wait for help, and tackles the problem head-on… with the help of the Nac Mac Feegle, the Wee Free men.
But this book isn’t about plot, really. It’s a wonderful example of character- and world-building. The characters — from Tiffany down to the Nac Mac Feegle — are fully drawn and exciting and interesting and engaging. Which makes the book thoroughly entertaining.
I’m going to have to leave it at that… this has taken me a lot longer than I thought it would, mostly because conversation around me is more interesting than the review I’m writing. Needless to say, I’m going to read the next two in the Tiffany Aching series. Terry Pratchett is definately an author — and Discworld a world — worth checking out.

Inkdeath

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by Cornelia Funke
ages: 12+
First sentence: “Moonlight fell on Elinor’s bathrobe, her nightdress, her bare feet, and the dog lying in front of them.”

I fell in love with Inkheart when I read it more than three years ago. I thought it was a brilliant concept, and I loved the story. I called it a “book lovers book”, and gushed about the characters, the plot, the little quirks. I read Inkspell soon after, and I didn’t care for it as much. So, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised, three years later, that I was completely bored by the third in the trilogy.

Now, perhaps this is because I waited so long in between reading the second and the third, and I didn’t bother re-reading the second again. But, I found myself unwilling to remember who all the characters were, and what their roles were, and how they fit into this very intricate world Funke has created. I also found that I’ve lost my original enthusiasm for the plot — which now seems very convoluted and hackneyed, not to mention more adult than is warranted in an upper-middle-grade book (even though my library has classified this one as teen). I didn’t care about Mo’s struggles with being a Robin-Hood-like outlaw. I didn’t care that Fenglio didn’t care, or that Elinor’s wallowing in depression because everyone’s gone to Inkworld without her. And so Meggie’s pining after Farid: what of it? She didn’t do much else (that I read). In addition, it’s a very slow — check that: excruciatingly slow — start; 150 pages in, I was thoroughly bored with the book. And so I did something I rarely do: I skipped around, looking for something more interesting to happen (spoiler: Dustfinger comes back. Woo-hoo! Except, he’s not nearly as intersting or complex), and when it didn’t — not really — I read the last 150 pages.

Because, even though the book was overlong and painfully slow, I still wanted to know how their story ended.

I guess I still care, if only a little tiny bit.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

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Wow. JK Rowling really knows how to write an ending.

I wrote that one-line review two years ago, after I read Half-Blood Prince, and I’ve been hoping that Rowling lived up to it. I’m happy to say that, in my opinion, she has. It’s not what I expected, though I have to admit that I was right on one account (but I’m not going to tell you what; not enough people have read it yet). No, it was better than I expected. It was not just a good ending for the Harry Potter books, but a good book: gripping, intense, soulful. It made me cry, several times. It kept me on the edge of my seat for most of the day. It was a mature story, dealing with mature themes, but not necessarily an adult one. It definitely isn’t a summer popcorn novel; it’s incredibly somber and sad. But with all that, I found it incredibly satisfying. Which is all I really wanted out of an ending.

What did you think? (Can we keep it spoiler free?) If you do want to join in a discussion that isn’t spoiler free… there’s a discussion being sponsored by Dewey at discussdeathlyhallows.