Review: "Uprooted" by Naomi Novik

The Wood by Agnieszka's village is full of horrors. Over the years, it has swallowed up both peasants and queens, and its haunted trees grow over the ruins of ancient kingdoms as well as villages like her own. The Dragon keeps the Wood at bay with his wizardry as best he can. In exchange, he takes one girl from the village every ten years. After a decade in his service, the girl is set free--but she never comes home again.

Everyone in Agnieszka's village knows that her friend Kasia will be the one the Dragon picks: she is beautiful, charming, and brave. But to everyone's surprise--even to his own--the Dragon takes Agnieszka instead.

***

Uprooted by Naomi Novik (2015)

4 out of 5 stars 

Complexity of Writing: 4/5
Quality of Writing: 4/5
Strength of Characterization: 3/5
Logic of Plot Development: 4/5
Evocation of Setting: 5/5
Effectiveness of Pacing: 4/5
Resolution of Conflict: 5/5
Emotional Engagement: 3/5
Mental Engagement: 3/5
Memorability: 4/5
Bechdel Test: pass
Diverse Cast: pass
Content Warning: horrific imagery, attempted sexual assault
Overall Response: I really love fairy tales.

***

More Thoughts: I don't know what to say when people ask my favorite fiction genre. When I was younger, I would have said "fantasy" without hesitation. These days, my reading list includes very little fantasy. I eye airbrushed swords-and-sparkles covers with deep suspicion. Lists like "How To Tell If You Are In A High Fantasy Novel" make me cringe even as I laugh.

Naomi Novik's Uprooted (read on the heels of Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn) makes me suspect the trouble: I don't enjoy fantasy as much as I enjoy fairy tales.

One Sentence Reviews: August

Well. August was a little sparse on book reviews, wasn't it?

The problem, dear readers, is that I'm sitting on a number of drafted reviews, 3/4ths complete, which don't yet suit me. The books in question are so lovely that my usual dashed-off ramblings would do them a disservice. (I had a hope of finishing at least one tonight, but this Domaine de Canton isn't going to drink itself.)

I may yet crack and post the haphazard ravings that have already been written. In the meantime, enjoy the short version of what I do and do not recommend from the past thirty-one days' worth of books!

***

August 2015

***

• Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare (2014, historical romance)
• Penniless daughter of a famous author and grouchy blinded nobleman inherit the same ruined castle; kissing ensues. -- My first proper "romance" novel was shockingly fantastic--funny, smart, genuinely charming. 5/5 stars.
• The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi (2015, sci-fi thriller)
• A conscientious hitman antiheroes his way through an apocalyptic dried-up Phoenix, Arizona, joined by the classic "lady journalist" and a luckless refugee. -- The forecast for near-future USA is an interesting playground setting-wise, but the characters and plot developments were nothing uncommon. 3/5 stars.
• The Vintner's Luck by Elizabeth Knox (2000, historical)
• French winemaker encounters an angel on the hillside above his house every year for half a century. -- It wished to be more dazzling than it was; if you have seen any quotes from it, you have seen the best excerpts already. 2/5 stars.
• The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (1909, historical thriller)
• French opera house haunted, managers blackmailed, singer abducted, investigators murdered. -- Without the Broadway glitter, it's a frightening mystery more in keeping with Poe (or Doyle's serials.) 3/5 stars.
• Say Yes To The Marquess by Tessa Dare (2014, historical romance)
• Dissolute boxer arranges his absent diplomat brother's wedding to the woman he'd rather call his own; kissing ensues. -- And with that, I go back to avoiding romance novels. 1/5 stars.
• Revival by Stephen King (2014, horror)
• After tragedy strikes, a preacher researches the less-fickle miracle of electricity. -- Can Lovecraftian horrors and faith healings mix? Yes, but this isn't how to do it. 1/5 stars.
• Into Thin Air by John Krakauer (1999, memoir)
• Author recounts his experiences climbing Everest during the 1996 disaster. -- A gruesomely close-up record of how quickly things can go wrong, and how little can be done to help another person in lethal atmospheric conditions. 4/5 stars.
• The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (1950, sci-fi)
• Short stories chronicling Earth's efforts to reach a populated Mars, only to ruin it. -- A fantastic example of the composite novel, tenderly and sparsely written, no less striking for its "outdated" view of the future. (To "update" it for "modern" audiences is a crime.) 5/5 stars.
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin (1969, sci-fi)
• Solitary ambassador from unified human planets tries to negotiate with the ambisexual society of a frozen world. --It's a classic exploration of alternative gender construction, they said; they never did say it was a good story. 2/5 stars.
• The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle (1968, fantasy)
• The only magical creature left in the world searches for her kin and the Red Bull that drove them away, but a unicorn is not a questing beast. -- The prettiest book in the English language, a higher-level commentary on fairy tales that never loses sight of its own story. 5/5 stars. (Full review here!)
• Flame Tree Road by Shona Patel (2015, historical)
• A progressive Indian family strives to secure British advantages for their children. -- A tolerable setpiece for early 20th century India and its complexities, but which substitutes the passage of time for a plot. 3/5 stars.

Book Cover Woes

A few days after my copy of Mary Renault's The Charioteer arrived in the mail, I glued the book shut.

Let me rewind.

Since its first publication in 1953, The Charioteer has had exactly one good cover: the very first. Fifty years of subpar covers have followed. As much as I would like to own a first edition, I don't have a spare hundred dollars lying around. Nor did I want to delay getting a copy in my grubby little mitts for good, free to mark up the pages and inhale the dust of the spine as I see fit without the censure of the library staff. So I pocketed my pride and bought one of the dismal reprints.

My time working at a craft store has left me with an assortment of odd skills, including Professional Gift Wrapping and Smiling Relentlessly On Christmas Eve. I've bound and covered a few journals by hand. It seemed simple enough to apply the same process to cover The Charioteer with a new paper jacket adhered directly on top of the old crummy one.

I missed a crucial step: putting wax paper between the cover and the rest of the pages, to prevent the book glue from slobbering everywhere. Whoops.

Forty minutes later, I finished separating the pages. No permanent damage was done, thankfully, even if the back half is a little more "feathery-looking" than when it arrived on my door. And the new cover paper came out quite sharp-looking against the original spine, which I left exposed for easy identification on my bookshelf.

But yes, for a little while there, I thought I had sealed my brand-new book forever.

I'm a hoarder when it comes to books; I like having physical copies in my hand and a stirring array of spines lined up end to end. The potential to "fix" bad covers has made me a lot less fussy when it comes to choosing editions of books now. As I type, my grungy mid-eighties technicolor version of The Princess Bride is being pressed with its new Florentine (!) paper cover. Who knows where I could go from here!

Review: "H Is For Hawk" by Helen Macdonald

The sudden death of her father shatters Helen Macdonald. Aching and angry, she throws herself into a new project that will occupy the empty place in her heart: the training of a young goshawk.

Since her earliest memories, she has been captivated by birds of prey. But the small raptors she has worked with in the past are nothing compared to either the enormity or the single-minded ferocity of the goshawk. Macdonald's bird, named "Mabel," does not require training so much as the complete sublimation of self. Soon Macdonald, rather than recovering from her loss, withdraws from human company altogether--much to the dismay of her friends and family.

Macdonald contrasts her experience with Mabel against that of T.H. White, author of The Once and Future King, who also sought to expunge his human agonies by hawking. Memories of her father merge with White's unsettling memoirs as Macdonald seeks to make amends.

***

H Is For Hawk by Helen Macdonald (2014)

3.5 out of 5 stars 

Complexity of Writing: 4/5
Quality of Writing: 4/5
Strength of Characterization: 3/5
Logic of Plot Development: 3/5
Evocation of Setting: 4/5
Effectiveness of Pacing: 4/5
Resolution of Conflict: 4/5
Emotional Engagement: 3/5
Mental Engagement: 3/5
Memorability: 3/5
Bechdel Test: pass
Diverse Cast: fail
Content Warning: animal abuse, child abuse, homophobia, self-harm
Overall Response: Beautiful, even if I wanted more.

***

More Thoughts: H Is For Hawk has been winning awards left and right since its release last summer. Fittingly, the number of "holds" on the book at my local library is well into the double digits. I waited months to get my hands on it. Now, my challenge: to finish writing this review in time to return the book before the library closes today, at which point, the Book Police will no doubt beat down my door and confiscate it.

Another Aside: A Special Gift

I mentioned just how many times I have read Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor (five and counting!) since its release in April of last year. What I forgot to mention was that my lovely librarian friend, knowing my great affection for the book, picked up a signed copy for me at the ALA conference in San Francisco!

"For Kelly -- Serenity is a wish.  --Sarah"

According to my friend, Sarah Monette--the author behind the Katherine Addison pseudonym--was shy but charming, much like her main character. At her panel, she spoke for only a bit before reading one of the Winternight chapters, letting the book speak for itself.

Ahhh... I wish I could have been there. And not just so that I could compare my pronunciations of "Nazhmorhathveras" against the author's.

Thank you so much for the memento, Amanda!

One Sentence Reviews: July

Well, dear readers, your resident grump has skated across the 100-book threshold--little more than halfway through 2015! As I mentioned back in April, almost all of these books are new--if not in terms of release date, at least to me. This has certainly been the year for discovering new treasures. Thanks to all of you who have emailed me book recommendations. I've found a lot of new favorites, and only two or three worth throwing against the wall.

As a side note, I don't count reading a book multiple times on these lists. So the relatively small number (for me) of "books read" this month doesn't reflect reading Mary Doria Russell's Doc for the third time, or Mary Renault's The Charioteer for the second. (Or the... three? total times which I have read The Goblin Emperor since January of this year, after the two readings of last summer.)

***

July 2015

***

• Under A Painted Sky by Stacey Lee (2015, YA historical)
• A Chinese orphan and a runaway slave become unlikely friends as they make their way to hopeful refuge on the Oregon Trail, dressed as men for their safety. -- A limping start, but a fun adventure full of humor and grit, toothsome turns of phrase, and a unique perspective of the dangers of cross-country travel in the 1800s. 3/5 stars.
• Epitaph: A Novel of the O.K. Corral by Mary Doria Russell (2015, historical)
• Tombstone, Arizona suffers cattle rustling rings, fires, floods, and the epic showdowns between famous figures of the Old West. -- It lacks the emotive heart of its predecessor, "Doc," and the vague threads of plot are too tangled to follow. 3/5 stars. (Full review here!)
• Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (2014, contemporary mystery)
• Investigations into drowning death of a mixed-race girl provokes contemplation throughout the family tree. -- This would be a good "book club" book, full of thought-provoking revelations about ordinary family life and social pressures. 3.5/5 stars.
• We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson (1962, thriller)
• Orphaned sisters suspected of poisoning their entire family protect each other and the family estate from hostile neighbors. -- A hands-down perfect book. 5/5 stars. (Full review here!)
• Tipping The Velvet by Sarah Waters (1998, historical)
• Lovestruck village girl follows dazzling male impersonator to London, cycles through varying alternative lifestyles and means of supporting herself before becoming a socialist. -- I was charmed by the start, then sickened, then bored. 3/5 stars.
• The Charioteer by Mary Renault (1953, historical)
• After Dunkirk evacuation, crippled British soldier wrestles with his integrity as he falls in love with a conscientious objector working at the hospital. -- This book strikes me differently on each reread, but every time I am dazzled and can't think of anything else for days but its subtle intensity. 5/5 stars.
• Memoirs of an Invisible Man by H.F. Saint (1987, thriller)
• Average businessman rendered invisible after lab accident, struggles with daily survival and the requisite interested government agencies. -- If you can stomach the casual amorality of the protagonist, this offers a complex and engaging look at the pros and cons of invisibility, plus heart-pounding hunt/escape sequences. 3/5 stars. (Full review here!)
• Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman (2007, contemporary)
• Son of Italian resort owner develops crush on summer guest, waxes poetic. -- When I wasn't rolling my eyes over the histrionic narration, I was revolted by the characters. 1/5 stars.
• As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann (2001, historical)
• Murdering servant boy escapes justice by joining the English Civil War, falls in love with a fellow soldier, and continues to be a murderer. After the previous book, I couldn't stomach another several hundred pages with a protagonist I disliked so much--so this is one of the very rare books I didn't even finish reading. 1/5 stars.
• The Best Of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord (2013, sci-fi)
• After the destruction of their own planet, post-human refugees interview other post-human settlements for potential future spouses. -- Only rarely could I understand what was happening in this story, much less why. 2/5 stars.
• The Dog Stars by Peter Heller (2012, postapocalyptic survival)
• Ragged survivor of apocalyptic flu, his dog, and his gun-happy survivalist neighbor eke out a living in the abandoned Colorado countryside. -- A slow and methodical book about finding what one needs to survive, both in terms of physical needs and emotional ones. 4/5 stars.
• Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (1997, YA adventure)
• Half-Inuit girl flees underage marriage into the Alaskan wilderness, is adopted into a wolf pack. -- A revisited childhood favorite was nothing at all like I remembered. 3/5 stars.
• H Is For Hawk by Helen MacDonald (2014, memoir)
• Inspired by T.H. White, the author undertakes to train a goshawk to sublimate her grief over her father's death. -- Rich in insight and uncommon in subject. 4/5 stars. (Full review here!)