Strange Children

I got The Waters & the Wild by Francesca Lia Block from the library because the title is awesome, and the cover is pretty cool too. Also, it's a really short book. Like, 113 pages. And it's about changelings, which I find very exciting. So yeah. Here it is.

The Waters & the Wild by Francesca Lia Block

Bee has always been different: more interested in dirt and green things than television and celebrities, a little bit wrong-looking in many small ways, unable to connect with the people around her. Then one night a girl shows up in her bedroom, claiming that they are the same, saying that Bee stole her life and she wants it back. As she begins to investigate the appearance of this doppelgänger and the possibility that she could be a changeling, she also finally begins to make friends: an alien boy and girl who has memories from a past life as a slave. Together they find ways to connect with their worlds and explore their identities and all that usual coming-of-age stuff; what else can I say?

This was a very sweet book, with a fairly straight-forwardly told story interspersed with bits of poetry and prefaced by an enchanting "thirteen ways to know you are a changeling" list. However... well. I found it in the teen section, but I've come to realize that "teen" is a large category, and preteen/young teen books are nothing like young adult books. This book is about thirteen-year-olds, and really should be read by thirteen-year-olds. I was not as engaged in it as I would've liked.
Also, the story seemed to completely change partway through the book. The first half was about Bee, the main character, but by the end, she seemed to just be a plot device in the story of her two friends. It was very strange and didn't work for me at all.
Other than that, the imagery in this book--especially near the end, when the changeling issue was really coming to a head--was marvelous. And I liked the theme, of outcasts finding their own community, because everyone feels different at some point or another. So overall: a nice book, but not really my thing (unfortunately, since I've been dying for a good changeling story lately).

No sequels, but Block has written lots of other unrelated books, which I probably won't read but you never know. And no movie.

Recommendation: If you are a preteen or young teen who likes stories about changelings or other strange fairy-adjacent things, then you should definitely read this book! If you like interesting takes on the usual coming-of-age theme, or stories about people who don't fit in, go for it! And even if you are older, if you are at all curious about or interested in some of these themes and tropes, try it out! It's a short book, so even if you don't like it, it won't take too much of your time.

Warning: This books is fairly tame (especially in comparison to the last book I reviewed), but there are references slavery and some mild (in my opinion) instances of bullying. Those are the only possible triggers I can think of.

Rating: Three stars. Maybe 3.5? Eh.

Science and Faith (and Murder, Oh My!)

I went back and forth about whether or not to blog about the third book in my library stack, The Waking Dark by Robin Wasserman, but by the time I finished it, I knew I had to. It was just so crazy and intense and dark and also not what I was expecting in multiple ways. I don't feel like writing some in-depth introduction so that's all you're gonna get before the actual review.

Actually, it's not. See, I wrote that paragraph when I first attempted to blog about this book a few months ago, and now a few months have passed and there's a lot more that I need to say.
First of all, yes. I'm a total fail at this. I said I was back on this blog and I didn't follow through. There are a few different reasons for this, only two of which are worth mentioning: A) There were a fair number of activities on which I was--to my great shame--more interested in spending my time than this blog. B) The idea of blogging about this book was very... daunting.
Second of all, this book affected me a lot more than I originally realized. I noticed within the first chapter that the relationship between two of the characters was startlingly similar to the relationship between two of my characters--my original characters. As the book continued, the similarities grew, enough so that I felt a very strong emotional attachment to that relationship--and that strong emotional attachment eventually led to me having dreams about it. I dreamt multiple times about the two characters from this book and my own two characters, sometimes with all four of them together and sometimes with just two characters who were sort of fusions of the book's and mine. This is, of course, what made--makes--blogging about this book daunting. Since finishing it, I've found myself thinking about and re-exploring it quite a lot, and I've realized that it's actually pretty important to me. I don't want to not do it justice.
But I want even less to not share it with the world, so here I am. Hopefully my second attempt at this post will be more successful than my first.

The Waking Dark by Robin Wasserman

...Okay, here's the hard part. There's a reason I stopped before the summary last time. How on earth do I summarize this book??? Seriously???
Okay.
On one day, in just a few hours, five citizens of Oleander, Kansas become killers. For no discernible reason, these seemingly normal members of this community kill everyone around them and then themselves. Only one of the five fails in her attempt at the latter, but even she can provide no explanation for the reeling town.
One year after the Killing Day, a storm hits Oleander, and everything falls apart. The town is ravaged and then quarantined--a precaution necessitated by the storm's destruction of a nearby "facility"--and previously upstanding citizens begin to take the law into their own hands. Only five survivors of the Killing Day seem immune to the bloodlust that is infecting the town, so only these five can save it--as long as they can save themselves.
And that's all you get, because I don't know what else to say.

As I explained previously, this book had a surprisingly significant affect on me. Even excluding my personal attachment to certain characters and relationships, it's kind of really incredible. The writing is seriously compelling, the characters are all very real and relatable and impossible not to feel for, and the twists are some of the most shockingly unpredictable that I've ever read. Robin Wasserman builds the suspense and real darkness in this book masterfully; this is a true psychological thriller if I've ever read--or seen--one. Honestly, some of the acts committed by the inhabitants of Oleander are actually breathtakingly horrifying. Also, the question-themes of science and faith (hence my title) are so interesting to explore, especially in the ways that they affect each character differently, and have the potential to irrevocably affect so much more.
On all counts, this book is stunning: stunningly dark, and just plaining stunning in general.

There is no sequel to The Waking Dark, of which I am very glad. It ended well, and any attempt to continue it would seem false. Robin Wasserman has written a fair number of other books, however, which will definitely be going on my to-read list. I hope more of them are in this same genre, because she is a master of it.

No news of a movie so far, which is a shame. Assuming they did it justice, this book would make a brilliant movie. Of course, it would probably be rated R for violence and sexual themes (and definitely language), but if it weren't, it wouldn't be true to the book... Which leads me to the realization that I should probably have a warnings section in this post, if not all of my posts. After the recommendations section, I think.

Recommendation: This is a very, very dark book. So beware. But if you like dark books, and horror, and psychological thrills, and really twisted people doing really twisted things (and getting really twisted things done to them), then do not miss this book! I've not read much horror, but a lot of people on Goodreads say that The Waking Dark is in the same vein as Stephen King's writing, so if you're a fan of him, you should definitely give this one a try. Seriously, though. It's... just, wow.

Warning: This book contains a lot of violence--a lot--and much of it seems pretty senseless (within Oleander, not within the book; all the violence in the book is definitely there for a reason). And this book is, in nearly all areas, explicit. The violence is primarily--but not only--executed with guns and knives. There is a lot of blood, some creepy sexual themes, the on- and off-page murders of many innocent (and not innocent) people including one infant, violence committed by and against a child, at least six cases of suicide/attempted suicide, at least two cases of rape/attempted rape,  two instances of people being burnt alive, references to military occupation and violence, martyrdom, hate crimes, beatings, a fair amount of drug usage, strong and suggestive language, slut-shaming, both internalized and violently externalized homophobia, both implicit and explicit insanity (and institutionalization for it), bad weather, nonconsensual experimentation i.e. the violation of agency... and more. IF ANY OF THESE THINGS COULD BE POTENTIALLY TRIGGERING FOR YOU, I URGE YOU TO AVOID THIS BOOK. If you're unsure about anything I've mentioned here, feel free to comment on this post/message me/whatever and I'll be happy to provide clarification.

I've also decided to include an actual ratings section in my posts, and I'll go back to at least some of my past posts to add this. You'll find an explanation of my system at the top of the right sidebar. Ergo:

Rating: Five stars. Originally I gave it four stars, but the lasting affect it had on me was cause for a promotion.

"Tell Me a Story."

The first book I'm going to review after my very long hiatus is one of the best books I've read in a very long time. It's also one of the only books I've read in a very long time, but that is beside the point.

Here's what happened: I was out on a walk, because I'm meant to get some form of exercise every day and I didn't realize I could do so without leaving the house and whilst watching TV just by using my dad's electric bike until like a week later, and I thought, "WHAT THE HECK. I'LL GO TO THE LIBRARY." So I did. And see the thing about me is that all my bookshopping is done in a very special way: I go to a bookstore (or library), look at all the books with pretty covers and interesting titles in the YA section, and take home the two-to-five that most pique my interest, even if that means I'm spending like seventy bucks in one go. (It's a dangerous lifestyle, but hey, Danger is my middle name.) (That was a lie. Danger is just my nickname.) (That was also a lie. Danger is a word that is starting to look very strange to me, and that is all.) On this particular day, I went to the library with comfortably empty arms and left with a giant stack of hard-cover books. (I only got four books, so the stack wasn't really giant, but I had two more blocks to walk and nothing to carry them in so it was all very awkward.) The first book I read was good, but I'm not going to blog about it, because it wasn't amazing and I just don't feel like it. This is the second.

Sorrow's Knot by Erin Bow

Otter was born to be a binder, to tie the knots that protect the Shadowed People from the dead. Her mother, Willow, is the greatest binder since Mad Spider, and Otter has inherited that power. Her friend Kestrel is training to be a ranger, one of the brave women who venture beyond the protection of the ward; Cricket, a boy in a world where men aren't safe, has a knack for storytelling. These three friends know where they belong in Westmost, their forest village, and they are happy.
But there are worse dangers than the little dead that live in shadows: A White Hand is lurking in the forest, putting all of the Shadowed People in fear of a touch that breeds madness. Meanwhile, the old binder has died, leaving Westmost in the hands of Willow, whose power seems to be turning inside out. In a very short time, everything goes wrong, and Otter is faced with impossible choices, terrible grief, and the growing knowledge that, as Willow says: There is something wrong with the knots.

This book, just, wow. Everything about it is incredible, and unique. The language is precise, formal yet natural, and the writing is so gloriously rich with vivid imagery that even the intangible--the clotting shadows of the dead, the electric power of the wards, and all the true physicalities of emotions--becomes undoubtably real. The characters are complex and compelling, and completely believable--as is the world that Bow created, which is beautiful and horrifying at the same time. One of my favorite things about this world is its stories, which are hugely significant; one of my favorite things about this book is how the characters had to trace back to the roots of their stories in order to understand what they were facing. There was something very exhilarating about that. The whole book was exhilarating, really, and very eerie, and Bow wove suspense impressively well; I haven't been so desperate to finish a book in quite a while. At the same time, I wish it hadn't ended, because it was so incredible, and I really enjoyed the time I spent consumed by it.

What's really cool about this book is that the story ends, but a new character is introduced, and he has a story that is just beginning. I have a feeling that Erin Bow will not be writing his story, which would really be more of a companion to Sorrow's Knot than a sequel, and I'm sort of glad of that, because I think it's nice to leave the imagining of it up to the reader. At the same time, I really really really do want her to write it, because I want so much more of this world. Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure there's nothing that could stop me from reading her first book, Plain Kate, as well as her third, Children of Peace, though the latter won't be out for another two years. Her writing is just so amazing, and I'm really curious to see how it changes when she writes about different worlds.

As far as I can tell, there is no movie in the works for Sorrow's Knot. I think I'm glad of that. As much as I'd love to experience the world about which I keep waxing poetic in full audio-visual form, I can't imagine it being captured as perfectly in such a form as it is in its original. I like it as a book.

Thanks... to the library, I guess. This thanks section is kind of weird, isn't it? I'm not sure I'll keep it.

Recommendation: This isn't a happy book, so don't read this if you only like happy books. Otherwise, if you have an appreciation for great world-building and intricate mythologies, like I do, then definitely read this. Also, if you want strong female characters, because two of the main characters are female and very strong, and their whole society is probably like 90% women, all of whom are strong in their own ways. If you like stories about stories, this is a good choice. If you want your breath taken away--in all the ways, but especially all the best ways--then this, my friend, is a must-read for you. Read it. Yes. You. Read. Read it. Readdddddd it.

Rating: Five stars.

HONEY, I'M HOME!

So.

It’s been over two years since my last post, nearly three since my last actual book review. This is partly because my reviews are long, and consume a lot of time that I often don’t have; it is mainly because for the last year or two, I haven’t been reading books. I haven’t stopped reading—in fact, I’ve probably been reading more—but I’ve been reading fanfiction instead. Which. I mean, that’s not really something I can review on here. But anyways, I’ve started reading books again, and I’m trying to balance my fanfiction with my books because omg there is just so much stuff that I want to read.

So I’ve started reading books again and I’ve decided to start blogging about them again, too. I’m not going to blog about all of them, because I just don’t want to, and I also will probably change my format a bit, since honestly I just don’t even remember the formula I used when constructing my posts three years ago. This started out as something that would look good on college apps and as something for me to write about in college essays, so it wasn’t really for me, but now it’s going to be. I’m going to change some stuff and do some stuff differently and generally just shape my activity on this blog so that it’s something that I enjoy, that I do for myself. Hopefully that will lead me to be more active on here.

Honestly the readership on this is so low that I doubt anyone cares, but without further ado…

I’M BACK!

…Expect a review soon :)