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books

Castle Waiting by Linda Medley

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I first read Linda Medley’s Castle Waiting graphic novel as part of an assignment in library school.  It was the very first graphic novel/comic I had read in years (the last one before that was probably an issue of Casper when I wasn’t even double digits).  I wasn’t averse to reading graphic novels, and I had long embraced the notion of having them in public libraries as practical and necessary, I just hadn’t ever bothered to go find one I thought I would like.
I’m glad I chose Castle Waiting as my gateway drug.  It has a lot of elements I really enjoy in a novel: fairy tales reworked in new and interesting ways, a strong female protagonist, humor, feminist themes, and some nice surprises in the plot.  I revisited the book this week and was pleased to discover that I enjoyed it just as much the second time around.
Castle Waiting opens with what seems to be a fairly straightforward re-telling of Rapunzel.  Near the end, it morphs into something different (there’s a particularly funny set of wordless panels at this point), and we see that it’s the origin story for the place known as “Castle Waiting,” which has become a refuge for the weary and the imperiled.  As one of the characters tells our protagonist later on, the castle provides sanctuary for those who need to live in safety or die in safety.  When you consider the fact that the setting is a fairy tale world, it becomes easy to see how this story is a feminist one.
After the origin story, we’re introduced to our protagonist, lovely young Jain, who’s pregnant and on the run from her husband (not necessarily the father of her child).  She’s been told by her own father about Castle Waiting and its sanctuary, so she makes her way there.  Once there, she’s welcomed by its inhabitants, a diverse array of characters which Medley has plundered from the pages of nursery rhymes, legends, and fairy tales.
The second half of the book involves a group of bearded nuns.  That’s awesome enough in itself.  I don’t think this story is as strong as the one featuring Jain, but it’s amusing and interesting nonetheless.
The emphasis in Castle Waiting is not on sword and sorcery, and there’s not a great deal of action.  Instead, Medley focuses completely on the characters, giving us vignettes without major climaxes that allow us to really get to know everyone.  By the end of the book, they’ve become friends, and we wish we could visit for a weekend.  There’s nothing pulse-pounding about this comic, and sometimes that’s exactly what people need.
All of the female characters (and the male ones) are independent and interesting.  They’ve all got their own back stories and their own little quirks.  A few of the characters are particularly funny, cracking jokes and seeing humor in everyday activities.  While the characters’ lives weren’t necessarily rosy, they’ve all found a home at Castle Waiting, and the tone of the book reflects that sense of community.         
Medley’s art is all black and white, which I normally avoid (I prefer full-color), but it works here.  Her linework is very detailed and helps give the story its sense of fun.  The humor in the story comes not only from the dialogue between the characters, but in the reactions seen in facial expressions and body language.
Castle Waiting is basically a fairy tale (or rather, a series of fairy tale-esque stories) told with a feminist bent.  It has similarities with Bill Willingham’s Fables in that they both re-work traditional stories for a new audience and both center around a community of diverse characters who have found sanctuary with each other, but Castle Waiting is much different in tone.  Whereas Fables is most definitely for an adult or mature teen audience (lots of violence and sex), Castle Waiting is more child-friendly.  Its tone is a bit gentler and it doesn’t have any of the content parents tend to object to: bad language, nudity, violence.  That said, I think Castle Waiting is best appreciated by older teens and adults due to its themes, which younger readers may miss or simply not find interesting.
I first read Castle Waiting in individual volumes, but I got my hands on the compilation for the re-read (so the origin story, Jain’s story, and the bearded nuns story were all together).  Wow this book is beautiful. The spine has a cloth-type covering and it comes with a built-in ribbon bookmark.  It’s kind of ridiculous how much I love these ribbon bookmarks.  The cover, the only part of the book in color, shows the characters the reader meets within the book’s pages, and even the horse’s personality is evident.
This review covers only Castle Waiting Volume I, but Volume II is out now, and it’s sitting on my table ready to be read.  I’m definitely looking forward to it.

Chime by Franny Billingsley

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I think the best word I could use to describe Franny Billingsley’s Chime is “odd.”  It’s a very different sort of fantasy written in a very different sort of way.  I do think it’s well done, but it’s going to appeal to a specific kind of reader – a patient reader who enjoys leisurely stories and takes the time to absorb the writing style.
To be honest, it’d difficult for me to explain exactly what this book is about.  It doesn’t have an easy plot that can be summed up in a few snappy lines.  Briony is a teenager and lives in Swampsea, which is (I believe) supposed to be somewhere in England.  Swampsea is built on a swamp (obviously), and the town leaders have decided to drain the swamp to improve the economy of the city and the standard of living of its inhabitants.  Evidently swamps aren’t great places to live.
The Old Ones, supernatural-type beings with names like Mucky Face and Boggy Mun, have a problem with this swamp-draining idea.  The swamp is their home and they’d like it to remain as it is.  The Old Ones inflict the swamp cough, an incurable disease, on Swampsea’s inhabitants on a whim, and one of the cough’s victims happens to be Briony’s odd twin sister Rose.      
Brought into this mix are the Chime Child and the idea of witches.  The Chime Child is a person born at the stroke of midnight who can determine whether a person is a witch (in this world, witch=bad).  And she’s not always correct.  I suppose everyone makes mistakes.
The book opens with Briony telling the reader that she’s a witch and deserves to be hanged.  The rest of the book involves Briony telling us what led up to her arrest – she believes she’s responsible for her sister Rose’s mental condition as well as a massive wave that injured her stepmother’s spine and eventually led to her death.  (This is all revealed very early on, so don’t worry that I’m spoiling it for you.)  Briony has a lot of self-hatred, and this permeates the entire novel.  It can get a bit depressing, but it’s not surprising considering what Briony believes she has done.
And there’s a boy.  Of course there is a boy.
So, have you got all that?  And that’s not even half of the weird stuff going on in Chime.  There are so many elements at play, a reader has really got to be patient and wait for it all to fall in place at the end.  Patience is also required for the writing style.  Billingsley’s writing is heavy on metaphors, particularly odd metaphors you wouldn’t have considered before.  She also uses some really quirky phrases that add to the mood of the book, but also cause the reader to do a double-take at times.  Instead of being drawn further into the story by the writing style, it made me feel further removed.  It also made for a very long read – make no mistake, this is a slow-moving book.
Most times when I review a book I didn’t particularly care for, such as in the case of Chime, I have something fairly critical (but valid) to say about it.  Usually it’s mediocre writing, flat characters, or a nonsensical or boring plot.  In many of these cases, the book can still be enjoyed if one is willing to overlook these factors.  In the case of Chime, however, I don’t have anything specific in mind to criticize – it simply isn’t my cup of tea.  It’s slow, certainly, and it’s the weirdest book I’ve read in a long time, but these can also be strengths for the right reader.  Billingsley was going for a particular mood and she achieved it – it’s just not one that really appealed to me.
Copy checked out from my local library.

Bone by Jeff Smith

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Thorn & Fone Bone are a little worse for wear.
Bone is such an important comic book series for kids, but I had never heard of it until I started my job a little over a year ago.  It’s immensely popular – I saw so many kids check out the volumes, we had many copies that ended up lost or missing (always a sign of popularity), and even the library-bound copies are in rough shape due to heavy use.
The covers are inviting and the raves on the inside promise a classic read.  So naturally, I put myself on the hold list for Bone Volume 1: Out From Boneville and waited patiently.  Eventually, I got my hands on a copy and was immediately drawn into the story.
Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone are three Bone cousins who have been kicked out of their hometown, Boneville, due to Phoney Bone’s con man ways (he routinely tricks the people of Boneville out of their gold and the townspeople had enough of it).  The Bone people are beings that resemble marshmallow-colored smurfs, but the three featured in the comics are easy to tell apart.  Phoney Bone is the sinister-looking trickster; Smiley Bone is the tall, goofy, good-natured one; and Fone Bone is the brave, sensible one, which also means he is our protagonist.
After being run out of Boneville, the Bone cousins find themselves in a strange valley inhabited by humans, fearsome rat creatures, dragons who may or may not exist, and a talking bug named Ted, among other beings.  They are soon taken in by a kind (and beautiful) young woman named Thorn and her ornery grandmother, Gran’ma Ben.
Fone Bone is so adorable.
Bone is a delightful mix of humor, action, and real emotion.  I appreciated the recurring gags Smith included throughout.  (Fone Bone’s favorite book is Moby Dick, and whenever he reads it aloud, the people surrounding him immediately fall asleep; the two main rat creatures are obsessed with quiche and frequently threaten to cook the Bone cousins into one; and so on).  Phoney Bone has a new plan to swindle the people of the valley each volume, and Fone Bone falls increasingly in love with the lovely Thorn.
The series isn’t just a string of misadventures caused by Phoney Bone and his cousins.  Underlying the amusing hijinks is a thread of danger and a complex mythology.  They’re living in a fantasy world, after all, so there’s plenty of magic and a good dose of mystery.  Gran’ma Ben has secrets – secrets that involve her granddaughter Thorn – and before long, the Bone cousins are caught up in it.  The fate of the entire valley depends on their actions.
Like any comic book series, some volumes are better than others.  (I felt the fifth volume in particular dragged.  Most of it centered around a mountain lion named Roque Ja who wasn’t as funny as Smith intended him to be.)  But they’re never not entertaining, and the art is consistently a treat.  Smith’s artwork is cartoony without being too exaggerated.  Each character is distinct, the colors are bold and attractive to the eye, and facial expressions are easily read (and frequently hilarious).
The rat creatures have missed out on a delicious quiche.
I finished the ninth and final volume, Crown of Horns, two nights ago and was not disappointed.  Smith wrapped up all of the plotlines believably, gave the reader a solid conclusion, and still left me wanting more.  Fortunately, there is more!  Smith and his cohorts have written two prequels and a companion novel.  I’m interested to see if the novel gets any use at the library.  (Sidenote: Would you shelve it with the graphic novels or the juvenile fiction?)
I think Bone is that rare comic book series that appeals to comics fans as well as newbies.  It’s got wide appeal: reluctant readers will be drawn in by the bright illustrations and great humor, while more sophisticated readers will appreciate the complex mythology and main plotline about Gran’ma Ben and Thorn.  Even readers who are unable to grasp the full meaning of the plot will be entertained by the antics of Phoney and Smiley Bone.
If you’ve yet to pick up this series, do yourself a favor and see what the kids love so much.  Bone is a great example of what kid lit should be: fun, funny, and meaningful.

What I’m Reading Now

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For your Friday reading pleasure, a few of my current reads and my thoughts on each thus far:
 
XVI by Julia Karr
The jacket synopsis led me to think this book would be a clumsy attempt to make a statement about our over-sexed culture.  Protagonist Nina lives in a future where girls get a tattoo at age sixteen designating them as legal to engage in sexual activity.  So not my thing to read about.  But I can’t resist the siren call of a dystopia, so I checked it out anyway.  And I’ve been pleasantly surprised so far – while the “sex-teen” aspect is a major thread, the plot is much more focused on Nina’s family and their potential involvement in an underground movement dedicated to toppling the government.  There’s a lot of made up slang and abbreviations, which I actually like a lot here.  It reminds me a little of Biting the Sun and Feed in that regard.  There’s also major world-building, and you all know how much I crave that.  Lastly, and most pleasantly for me, the plot is leading up to a major reveal about the dystopian world.  That was always what I loved most about dystopias as a teen and it hasn’t been present in most of the dystopias I’ve read as an adult (think Hunger Games, Wither, Across the Universe, Delirium – a few surprises, yes, but not on the scale of The Giver).  I’m eager to finish this one and see if the reveal is worthy of my admiration.
Secondhand Charm by Julie Berry
Kelly’s already reviewed this one here.  As a fantasy lover (and lover may actually be an understatement in this case), I’m always interested to see what non-fantasy lovers like about the fantasy books they recommend.  That’s the main reason I decided to pick up this one.  So far, I dig the fact that the story is set in a completely different world – I’ve read too many fantasies that are set in our world with magical elements sprinkled in.  Reading fantasy can be a great escape, and this one appears to fit the bill.  And speaking of stories set in our world with magical elements sprinkled in…
Tyger Tyger by Kersten Hamilton
I’m still not sure why I checked this one out.  The cover is really pretty, but that’s usually not enough to convince me to give it a shot.  I think I was drawn to it due to its unusual mythology.  Teenage Teagan is seeing goblins.  Finn Mac Cumhaill, her family’s mysterious visitor from her mother’s adoptive family of Irish travelers, warns her about them and tells her the sidhe follow him wherever he goes.  Danger and adventure ensue.  It’s not bad, but it’s also not a pageturner for me.
The Marvelous Land of Oz adapted by Eric Shanower
I loved Eric Shanower’s adaptation of the first Oz book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and am loving the second book in the series just as much.  It’s no surprise, considering my love for Oz in general.  I’m familiar with Shanower’s illustrations from The Wicked Witch of Oz by Rachel Cosgrove Payes, but hadn’t had a chance to read his writing before.  His adaptations of the books remain true to the originals, restoring a lot of the elements omitted from or changed for the movie (silver shoes, the Good Witch of the North’s kiss).  I like Skottie Young’s illustrations a lot, but I admit that I would have preferred Shanower’s (the first installment gives the reader a few examples of Shanower’s artistic interpretations of the characters).  I’m pleased that the duo intend to bring all of Baum’s Oz books into a graphic format.

Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst

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In Enchanted Ivy, Lily is visiting her dream college, Princeton, with her mother and grandfather for her grandfather’s 50th class reunion.  Her grandfather, being deliberately cryptic, takes her to a super-secret meeting on campus where she’s told she’s been selected to take the Legacy Test.  Her task is to find the Ivy Key.  She’s given no other hints or direction – it’s simply “Find the Ivy Key.”  If she passes, she’s guaranteed acceptance into Princeton.  If she fails, she’s not guaranteed acceptance, but she’ll still get her fair shot with all the other applicants.
It seems like a win-win scenario: she won’t really lose anything by trying, and if she passes the test, the stress of applying and waiting for the acceptance letter will be off her shoulders for good.  Of course, as soon as Lily undertakes the test, she discovers that nothing is as it seems – the gargoyles start talking to her, she’s being followed around by a boy with orange hair who says he wants to help (but does he?), and then she’s attacked by a creature that can’t possibly exist.  Suddenly, the test has turned dangerous and the stakes have risen.

I loved the idea of a Da Vinci Code-type scavenger hunt on a college campus, and the idea of talking gargoyles was different enough to intrigue me.  Talking gargoyles have of course been done before, but at least they’re not fairies or vampires or something else that I’m completely burned out on.  I was interested to see what Durst would do with them.
Unfortunately, the scavenger hunt only lasted about a third of the book (maybe even less), and the plot devolved from that point.  On her quest to find the Ivy Key, Lily discovers that Princeton is the gateway to a magical realm, another Princeton populated by a bevy of magical creatures including dragons and various were-animals.  The rest of the book involves Lily’s interactions with the orange-haired boy and the graduates who assigned her the test, her explorations of the magical Princeton and its denizens, and several (and I mean several) revelations about her own family (including her mentally unstable mother).
It could have been interesting, but it’s mostly just messy.  The plot points are thrown at the reader rapidly without much fleshing out.  There’s certainly something to be said for a fast-moving plot (I’m a huge fan when it’s done well), but it still needs to be written convincingly.  Durst didn’t make me believe in her story, and as a result I couldn’t get lost in it.  There’s too much going on.  There’s also a fairly pedestrian love triangle that is so underdeveloped I wish it weren’t there at all.  (This love triangle does bring us some monumentally cheesy lines about soul mates and the like – perhaps my younger self would not have rolled her eyes as I did a few weeks ago when I read the book.)
I think the story would have been so much stronger if Durst had weeded out a few of the stray plot points and concentrated her efforts on fleshing out the central ideas.  The story would have been simpler and there would have been a lot fewer “oh my gosh!” moments, but the characters and setting would also have been given more time to shine.  Sometimes simplifying a book’s plot can make it a more complex read in terms of character or theme.
My other main complaint is that the other Princeton wasn’t developed enough for my liking.  I’m a hardcore fantasy lover and read it almost exclusively as a teenager – I demand a lot from my magical worlds.  Other readers may not be so demanding and may actually appreciate a lot less world-building in their fantasy novels (those weirdos…I kid, I kid).  It didn’t help that one of Lily’s first sights when she’s in the magical Princeton is of dragons flying over a playing field.  From then on, other Princeton looked like Hogwarts to me.
Enchanted Ivy had a lot that appealed to me as a student.  I would have grabbed this title my junior year of high school when I was feeling the pressure about getting into the good colleges (and I wasn’t even applying to places like Princeton).  There aren’t enough books that talk about the college experience, and while Lily isn’t really a college student yet, at least she’s on a college campus, so we’re halfway there.
I can appreciate what Durst was trying to do with Enchanted Ivy, but it didn’t really pull itself together in the end.  I’d recommend the book to teens who are looking for a different sort of fantasy – not your usual paranormal or fairy tale re-telling, but also not something that requires a huge investment in world-building on the scale of a lot of epic fantasies out there today.  It’s a light read and doesn’t take long to get through, but it could have been much better.