When word first broke that there was going to be two Snow White movies released in 2012, it only took one glimpse at the stunning trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman (in theaters Friday June 1, 2012)to settle the which-one-will-be-better debate. No contest. SWATH looks epic in every sense of the word, and considering the massive talent both on and off screen, it’s no mystery why. I know exactly where I’ll be this Friday night, and I’m guessing if you’re reading this blog, you have plans to hit the theater too. In the meantime, we have a very cool giveaway thanks to Universal Pictures via Big Honcho Media where you can win a SWATH Prize Pack including a T-shirt, necklace and ring set, cell phone mirror, and a copy of SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN novel. Enter below!
21 April 2012
 | Title: Whisper
Sexual Content: Rating:
  Good - A fun read with minor flaws. Maybe read an excerpt before buying. |
Labels: 3 bats, 3rd person, 4th in series, Alyson Noel, Fantasy, ghosts, middle grade, Review
30 January 2012
 | Title: Eyes Like Leaves
Sexual Content: None. Rating:
Good - A fun read with minor flaws. Maybe read an excerpt before buying. |
13 August 2011
 | Title: City of Fire
 Sexual Content: None. Rating:
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Description
Two-time Newbery Honor Award-winning author Laurence Yep kicks off an action-packed new fantasy trilogy
Sure to appeal to fans of Rick Riordan and Eoin Colfer, this action-packed tale takes readers on an unforgettable journey through an alternate version of our world in 1941—a world filled with magical beings such as dragons in human form, tiny “lap griffins,” reincarnations of legendary Chinese warriors, Japanese folk creatures, and goddesses in disguise.
When her older sister dies trying to prevent the theft of one of her people’s great treasures, twelve-year-old Scirye sets out to avenge her and recover the precious item. Helping her are Bayang, a dragon disguised as a Pinkerton agent; Leech, a boy with powers he has not yet discovered; and Leech’s loyal companion Koko, who has a secret of his own. All have a grudge against the thieves who stole the treasure: the evil dragon Badik and the mysterious Mr. Roland.
Scirye and her companions pursue the thieves to Houlani, a new Hawaiian island being created by magic. There, they befriend Pele, the volatile and mercurial goddess of volcanoes. But even with Pele on their side, they may not be able to stop Mr. Roland from gaining what he seeks: the Five Lost Treasures of Emperor Yu. Together, the treasures will give him the power to alter the very fabric of the universe.
Review
It has been a very long time since I've read a young adult novel with this breadth of creativity and world-building. CITY OF FIRE gathers an unlikely band of confederates together and sends them whizzing out into an incredibly imagined world of adventure and wonder. From the broad political landscape to the delightful little details about daily life, I was enchanted through it all.
Reading CITY OF FIRE reminded me of the all the discovery of reading the first Harry Potter combined with the written equivalent of DINOTOPIA’s intricacy and delight. Yep lays out a fascinating magical and political structure for his world, all the while sprinkling the story with visual tidbits like a six-foot tall lizard pushing a broom in the background. The plot swept forward with an amazing amount of information without ever bogging down, due in part to the way Yep balances the lush depth of his scenery with fast paced action and dialog. While CITY OF FIRE was a fantastic entry into this world, I wouldn’t recommend skipping straight to later books in the series, if only because you would miss the way each member of Scirye’s motley group changes and comes together over the course of book one.
The characters in CITY OF FIRE are around twelve-years-old and are definitely pre-pubescent. Given that CITY OF FIRE takes place in the span of a day, I would imagine that we're not going to watch Scirye and Leech grow up in any physical sense over the course of the trilogy, despite the emotional maturity they gain. Packed with adventure, admirable character growth and an inventive world, CITY OF FIRE will be a hit for readers at any age looking for adventure and wonder, but not a hint of romance.
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Labels: 1st in series, 1st person, 4 bats, City Trilogy, Dragons, Fantasy, Lawrence Yep, Middle Grade, trilogy
09 August 2011
 | Title: City of Ice
Sexual Content: None. Rating:
Good - A fun read with minor flaws. Maybe read an excerpt before buying. |
Description
Two-time Newbery Honor Award-winning author Laurence Yep returns with the action-packed sequel to the critically-acclaimed City of Fire
From the islands of Hawaii, Scirye and her loyal companions pursue the villainous Mr. Roland and evil dragon Badik all the way to the city of Nova Hafnia in the Arctic Circle. With the help of a trader, Prince Tarkhun, and his daughter Roxanna, the companions chase their enemies into the vast and desolate Wastes. Scirye and her friends are determined to stop Mr. Roland from getting his hands on the second of the Five Lost Treasures of Emperor Yü, which will give him the power to alter the very fabric of the universe. But few who enter the Wastes ever return, and Scirye has no choice but to call on the spirit of the North for help. As wild and unpredictable as the Arctic itself, will the spirit turn out to be friend or foe?
Review
CITY OF ICE has the creativity and fantastic world-building that I came to love in CITY OF FIRE, but suffers a little bit from "mid-trilogy" malaise. Scirye and her companions struggle through the morality play of working together, deal with magical forces beyond their comprehension, and chase villains that threaten the world as they know it, and this middle book doesn’t offer much by way of resolution on any of these fronts.
Don’t think that my disappointment with a lack of forward momentum is the sum of my reaction to CITY OF ICE, however. This book contains my favorite setting for the series thus far. As fascinating as Auntie Pele and her Hawaiian volcanoes were in CITY OF FIRE, I found the snowy reaches of the Arctic Circle even more interesting. The interaction of myth and magic on the tundra was more than enough to hold my attention, and helped carry the story when I became impatient with the insecurities of Scirye and her friends. Snoring otters, ice palaces, and Inuit mythology combine to create some of my favorite scenes yet.
From a world-building perspective, CITY OF ICE is as lush and interesting as any in this series, but the character development languishes as Yep sets up conflicts for book three. Even with that criticism, however, I know that the beautifully written concepts and landscapes in this book will stay with me long after I finish it. Certainly long enough for me to remember to pick up the last book of the City Trilogy as soon as it's available.
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Labels: 2nd in series, 3 bats, City Trilogy, Dragons, Fantasy, Lawrence Yep, middle grade, Review
09 March 2011
 | Title: The Skin Map
 Sexual Content: My Rating:
Okay – Somewhat disappointing with significant flaws. Library/swap/borrow if you want. |
Description
"He had a sensation of being told a secret he knew to be true, but which would be far, far easier--and much safer--to ignore; all the more so since he strongly suspected that acknowledging the truth meant his life would change utterly."
Kit Livingstone's great-grandfather has re-appeared with an unbelievable story--the ley lines throughout Britain are not merely the stuff of legends but truly are pathways to other worlds. So few people know how to use them, though, that doing so is fraught with danger.
But one explorer knew more than most. Because of his fear of being unable to find his way home, he developed an intricate code and tattooed his map onto his skin. But the map has since been lost and rival factions are in desperate competition to recover it. What none of them yet realize is that the skin map itself is not the prize at the end of this race . . . but merely the first goal of a vast and marvelous quest to regain Paradise.
Enter the ultimate treasure hunt--with a map made of skin, a playing field of alternate realities, and a prize that is the greatest mystery of all.
Review
THE SKIN MAP opens with light humor and mysterious promises. Kit Livingstone embarks on inter-dimensional, inter-generational exploration in the same spirit Arthur Dent grabbed a towel and hitchhiked his way through the galaxy: hapless, unintentional adventure. Whereas Dent remained the star of his series, Kit was soon eclipsed by supporting characters: the villain, Kit’s ex-girlfriend (Wilhelmina), and even the man you know will eventually be skinned for a map.
As his characters are turned head over tail, Lawhead’s writing structure mirrors the physics of the world he created. Just as realities nest together like soap bubbles, embodying every time period and possibility a traveler could imagine, so to do THE SKIN MAP’s chapters. I never knew from chapter to chapter what perspective or time period I’d find. Unfortunately, despite my fascination with the world building, I finished the last page of THE SKIN MAP more confused than ever.
Above and beyond the physical structure, the writing style of this book presents flat characters and events with minimal detail or development. The interweaving chapters could have provided that critical third dimension, but never came together in any meaningful way. The majority of the soap bubble chapters in THE SKIN MAP seemed best popped and forgotten, filled with dangling details and characters that were never resolved or utilized.
Despite Wilhelmina’s initial introduction as a sarcastic harpy (who inspired Kit to think that “he simply had to get a better girlfriend at the first opportunity”), it was only the glimpses of her budding Kaffeehaus empire that drew me through the bulk of this book. If book two of the Bright Empires series, THE BONE HOUSE, promises to feature Wilhelmina more prominently, and pick up the dangling details leftover from THE SKIN MAP, I may be persuaded to continue reading.
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Giveaway courtesy of Thomas Nelson
Two (2) winners will each receive a copy of THE SKIN MAP
Giveaway Guidelines
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Open to US only
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Leave a comment & a way to contact you if you win
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Entries must be received by Midnight MST on March 16th.
Interested in offering a giveaway on All Things Urban Fantasy? CONTACT ME
02 January 2011
*This title will be released on January 4, 2011*
 | Title: The Lost Gate Length: 384 pages
Review Copy Source: Publisher |
Book Description
Danny North knew from early childhood that his family was different, and that he was different from them. While his cousins were learning how to create the things that commoners called fairies, ghosts, golems, trolls, werewolves, and other such miracles that were the heritage of the North family, Danny worried that he would never show a talent, never form an outself.
He grew up in the rambling old house, filled with dozens of cousins, and aunts and uncles, all ruled by his father. Their home was isolated in the mountains of western Virginia, far from town, far from schools, far from other people.
There are many secrets in the House, and many rules that Danny must follow. There is a secret library with only a few dozen books, and none of them in English — but Danny and his cousins are expected to become fluent in the language of the books. While Danny’s cousins are free to create magic whenever they like, they must never do it where outsiders might see.
Unfortunately, there are some secrets kept from Danny as well. And that will lead to disaster for the North family.
Review
Ever since the first time I read ENDER’S GAME, Orson Scott Card had a way of grabbing my attention and pulling me out of my normal genre preferences. In recent years, while I would still pick up his titles as they caught my eye, nothing had been able to recapture that initial attraction. Reading THE LOST GATE was like rediscovering a high school crush and falling in love all over again. I laughed, I read quotes out loud, and stayed up to all hours of the night until I finished it.
The world building of THE LOST GATE is definitely what boosted my rating right up to five bats. Card, once again, has created a fascinating premise. He draws on familiar mythologies and archetypes before adding his own critical and plausible twists. If the gods and goddesses of yesteryear began to wane in power, yes, I could see some of them ending up in a family compound in Virginia. Don’t read “compound” and think Kennedy’s, though. Most of the North family is petty, cruel, and outright murderous. I think Danny is lucky to be considered a “drekka” (a magic-less person), despite the pain and suffering that came with the title. Being a drekka offers him the chance to develop outside his family’s expectations.
The juxtaposition of real world and fantasy was another one of my favorite things in this book. Danny would overcome fantastic, magical, life-threatening situations only to face being a thirteen year old kid alone in Wal-Mart. With no shoes. (The store greeter explaining the “No shirt, no shoes, no service” sign was both sad and funny). While there were times when Danny seemed bratty and reckless, Card always manages to gather these loose threads back into the narrative, and threw in a twist at the end that has me rethinking my impression of many of Danny’s earlier actions.
This is one of those books that is hard to pigeonhole into genre boundaries. Adult? Probably, despite the fact that the main character starts out as a thirteen-year-old boy, both his mindset and his experiences are pretty grown up. Fantasy? Sure, THE LOST GATE mentions gods and goddesses speaking to animals and making plants grow, fantastic abilities that any kid would want. However, Card also includes detailed mechanics that make this “magic” feel more like a tantalizing science, something to discover and understand alongside Danny. A lot of knowledge had been lost to the North family (or not shared with Danny), forcing him to piece things together from a variety of sources. As a reader I felt challenged and engaged, eager to figure out and discuss which of the theories and clues were going to fit together to form a workable magic structure.
There are so many other aspects of this book that I adored, not the least the parallel story woven in with Danny’s own. It kept me guessing until the end, unsure if I was reading distant history or current events in some far away land. THE LOST GATE is certainly the most engaging and thought provoking fantasy novel I’ve read in a long time, and one I’m going to enjoy passing on to friends and family to discuss.
Sexual Content: Danny is assaulted by a sexually aggressive woman.
My Rating:
5/5
Near Perfect - Buy two copies: one for you and one for a friend.
Click HERE to read Chapter One of THE LOST GATE
Also reviewed by:
05 December 2010
| Title: Pegasus Reading level: Young Adult
Review Copy Source: Goodreads |  |
Book Description
A gorgeously written fantasy about the friendship between a princess and her Pegasus.
Because of a thousand-year-old alliance between humans and pegasi, Princess Sylviianel is ceremonially bound to Ebon, her own Pegasus, on her twelfth birthday. The two species coexist peacefully, despite the language barriers separating them. Humans and pegasi both rely on specially-trained Speaker magicians as the only means of real communication.
But its different for Sylvi and Ebon. They can understand each other. They quickly grow close-so close that their bond becomes a threat to the status quo-and possibly to the future safety of their two nations.
New York Times bestselling Robin McKinley weaves an unforgettable tale of unbreakable friendship, mythical creatures and courtly drama destined to become a classic.
Review
Robin McKinley is famous for her stunning writing whether in lush fantasy titles like BEAUTY or my favorite (and much in need of a sequel), her urban fantasy SUNSHINE. Her writing paints pictures so vivid that you experience her worlds on every possible level. Nowhere is that more beautifully true then in PEGASUS.
I always love stories that invite readers in to a special bond between humans and animals. Anne McCaffery’s Pern series pioneered that type of relationship and the humans are always in complete awe of the creatures, but in PEGASUS, the slight twist is that the pegasi are as much in awe of us as we are of them. We admire/envy their grace and beauty and wings. They admire/envy our strength and dexterity and hands.
There are moments of thrilling adventure, breathless danger, and touching friendship so tender that it speaks to the child in all of us. The pacing of PEGASUS is gradual and calm, never rushing or hurrying through. We’re meant to admire each sentence and drink in each scene even when it doesn’t really advance the story. The result is a delicate and exquisite fairy tale.
Reminiscent of C.S. Lewis’s THE HORSE AND HIS BOY, PEGASUS is a lovely quiet story, beautifully written and gracefully told. The ending is a cliffhanger, so we’ll all have to wait for the unnamed sequel to PEGASUS is coming in 2012.
Sexual Content: None
My Rating:
Excellent - Loved it! Buy it now & pre-order the sequel.
Click HERE to read an excerpt from PEGASUS
Previous books in the series:
- N/A
Also reviewed by:
Labels: 1st in series, 4 bats, Fantasy, pegasi, Review, Robin McKinley, YA
