Review: YA and the spooky supernatural
Before the advent of social networking sites like goodreads, my finds for new books all branched from scouring libraries and bookstores or the occasional suggestions from friends. But for the last couple years, I have been on a YA kick, as has much of the book reading populous. From the time I was eleven when I discovered Anne McCaffrey and Marion Zimmer Bradley, you couldn't pay me to set foot in the YA section of a bookstore or a library. The books always seemed to be morality tales that talked down to me with characters I couldn't care less about. But a perfect storm of reasons led me to the YA section of the bookstore a few years back, ranging from teaching highschoolers to being guildmates in WoW with a YA literary agent. Regardless of the convoluted deer trail that led me to YA, that's where I am and I'm grateful.
Today the majority of authors whose work I'm most jazzed about are YA. I think it's the refreshing lack of pretension that these authors have about their work and in their written voice that I adore. For whatever the reason, many of the books I've recently read or plan to read soon are YA and tend to fall in the general category of urban fantasy. The first book I want to discuss is White Cat by the mistress of gritty teen lit, Holly Black.
White Cat (Curse Workers #1) by Holly Black
White Cat is the first book in Holly's Curse Workers series, a world where magic exists and everyone knows it, but magic has been illegal since prohibition. Because of this ban on magic, workers (as she dubs her magic users) who practice their craft are criminals and usually work for one of six major crime families. White Cat is told from the perspective of Cassel Sharpe, a teenage boy from a family of curse workers who isn't a worker.
Cassel is in a word, fantastic. Though Cassel has no talent as a worker, he does have the criminal talent of his family. Cassel is a con artist who is trying to fit in at his prep school. That fact infuses the entire narrative from moving the plot to how Cassel interacts with any and everyone in his life. Full disclosure: I am unabashedly Team Cassel. This may have something to do with my fetish for thief types, which I've traced back to early and frequent exposure to Han Solo as a small child. I love con artist characters and good con movies. This book struck both those chords for me.
Besides the interesting characters and seedy criminal underworld that Holly created in this book, she also created a fabulously complicated magic system. Curse working has a clear set of rules regarding how the magic functions that effects not only the users, but the society itself. One consequence of this magic is that everyone wears gloves since working can only be accomplished through physical touch. The way that Holly weaves this into subtle background moments and how it molds the way her characters think was done with finesse and polish.
This book has the full gamut of things I love: great cons, the mob, noir-esque narrative voice, tortured characters, shady pasts, complicated relationships of all kinds, and a really interesting magic system. In my opinion, White Cat is her best book yet and I wait with bated breath for book two, Red Glove.
The Demon's Lexicon (The Demon's Lexicon #1) by Sarah Rees Brennan
I love media that has family drama. Now, I don't mean "Dynasty" family melodrama when I say that. I mean family drama like the tragedy of the Winchesters in "Supernatural." That's my kind of family drama, where they would do anything for each other, but there are tangles of deep conflict in their relationships. It is my proverbial bread and butter. This is one of the reasons that I adored, straight adored, The Demon's Lexion by Sarah Rees Brennan and why I have to agree with Holly Black that the character of Alan Ryves is bloody brilliant.
Though I use the tv show "Supernatural" as an example of why I love this series, the world of The Demon's Lexicon is nothing like that of "Supernatural." The book follows the younger brother of the two, Nick Ryves. Though it is told third person, the story sticks to his perspective in its narration. Sarah's world is filled with magicians, pied pipers, demons, and a Goblin Market, named for the Christian Rosetti poem. The Ryves boys have been on the run for most of their lives from magicians and during their stay in Exeter two other siblings crash into their lives, Mae and Jamie Crawford.
I was hooked by this book in its first two sentences: "The pipe under the sink was leaking again. It wouldn't have been so bad, except that Nick kept his favorite sword under the sink." The characters, their relationships, and the mystery kept me reading. The witty dialogue kept me laughing and running to tweet especially entertaining lines. The Demon's Lexicon is a thrilling, fascinating, and hilarious ride whose ending set up an amazing series.
The Demon's Covenant (The Demon's Lexicon #2) by Sarah Rees Brennan
Luckily for me, I didn't pick up The Demon's Lexicon until the second book in the series, The Demon's Covenant, was already released. When I finished book one, I dived immediately into book two. Instead of following tall, dark, and well-armed Nick Ryves, the second book in this supernatural YA series follows Mae Crawford. While I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, I loved seeing this world through Mae's eyes. Unlike most heroines who discover the magical nougat-y center of reality, Mae does not know some martial art, nor does she have any special powers, except being preternaturally stubborn, quick on her feet, and being well-armed with a sharp tongue.
I can't get too much into the plot of The Demon's Covanent without giving major spoilers to the first book in the series, which you do NOT want me to do. Suffice to say, there are even more sword fights, maniacal magicians, pithy one-liners, and complications for the Crawfords and the Ryves in this book. Go forth. Read. Enjoy.
Today the majority of authors whose work I'm most jazzed about are YA. I think it's the refreshing lack of pretension that these authors have about their work and in their written voice that I adore. For whatever the reason, many of the books I've recently read or plan to read soon are YA and tend to fall in the general category of urban fantasy. The first book I want to discuss is White Cat by the mistress of gritty teen lit, Holly Black.
White Cat (Curse Workers #1) by Holly Black
White Cat is the first book in Holly's Curse Workers series, a world where magic exists and everyone knows it, but magic has been illegal since prohibition. Because of this ban on magic, workers (as she dubs her magic users) who practice their craft are criminals and usually work for one of six major crime families. White Cat is told from the perspective of Cassel Sharpe, a teenage boy from a family of curse workers who isn't a worker.
Cassel is in a word, fantastic. Though Cassel has no talent as a worker, he does have the criminal talent of his family. Cassel is a con artist who is trying to fit in at his prep school. That fact infuses the entire narrative from moving the plot to how Cassel interacts with any and everyone in his life. Full disclosure: I am unabashedly Team Cassel. This may have something to do with my fetish for thief types, which I've traced back to early and frequent exposure to Han Solo as a small child. I love con artist characters and good con movies. This book struck both those chords for me.
Besides the interesting characters and seedy criminal underworld that Holly created in this book, she also created a fabulously complicated magic system. Curse working has a clear set of rules regarding how the magic functions that effects not only the users, but the society itself. One consequence of this magic is that everyone wears gloves since working can only be accomplished through physical touch. The way that Holly weaves this into subtle background moments and how it molds the way her characters think was done with finesse and polish.
This book has the full gamut of things I love: great cons, the mob, noir-esque narrative voice, tortured characters, shady pasts, complicated relationships of all kinds, and a really interesting magic system. In my opinion, White Cat is her best book yet and I wait with bated breath for book two, Red Glove.
The Demon's Lexicon (The Demon's Lexicon #1) by Sarah Rees Brennan
Though I use the tv show "Supernatural" as an example of why I love this series, the world of The Demon's Lexicon is nothing like that of "Supernatural." The book follows the younger brother of the two, Nick Ryves. Though it is told third person, the story sticks to his perspective in its narration. Sarah's world is filled with magicians, pied pipers, demons, and a Goblin Market, named for the Christian Rosetti poem. The Ryves boys have been on the run for most of their lives from magicians and during their stay in Exeter two other siblings crash into their lives, Mae and Jamie Crawford.
I was hooked by this book in its first two sentences: "The pipe under the sink was leaking again. It wouldn't have been so bad, except that Nick kept his favorite sword under the sink." The characters, their relationships, and the mystery kept me reading. The witty dialogue kept me laughing and running to tweet especially entertaining lines. The Demon's Lexicon is a thrilling, fascinating, and hilarious ride whose ending set up an amazing series.
The Demon's Covenant (The Demon's Lexicon #2) by Sarah Rees Brennan
I can't get too much into the plot of The Demon's Covanent without giving major spoilers to the first book in the series, which you do NOT want me to do. Suffice to say, there are even more sword fights, maniacal magicians, pithy one-liners, and complications for the Crawfords and the Ryves in this book. Go forth. Read. Enjoy.
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