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Robin McKinley - Spindle’s End Genre: Basics: It’s the story of Sleeping Beauty. But not, you know, lame like Sleeping Beauty kind of is. It’s also about gossip, and community, relationships, life … all that silly stuff. Why I like it: I think mostly because I can absolutely believe in the things she adds into the story - like the uneasy relationship between fairies and non-fairies, the unity and awareness (and unspoken codes of behavior) in the animal kingdom that are inaccessible to the human world, and most especially the personal motivations behind the characters’ decisions, especially inherent illogic of, oh, every decision the royal family makes about their daughter. The mythic world McKinley creates around the familiar details of the story is both realistic and engaging. Favorite Part: Rosie confronting Fast in his stall and telling him off for being such a spoiled and histrionic whiner. Oh my goodness that was funny. Weakest Part: Pernicia. I didn’t think she was as clearly-drawn as the other characters. I know they’re very different, but I couldn’t help comparing her to Meleficent in the Disney version (one of my favorite Disney characters of all time, corny as that is), and I think I liked being able to watch Meleficent being treacherous and scheming, whereas Pernicia mainly freaks people out by being uncannily purple and grouchy when she shows up, and then just relies on the people’s own fear to do the job when she skulks off elsewhere. Yes, I know, it’s a fascinating social commentary and all that, but … and she doesn’t turn into a dragon like Meleficent did. Talk about disappointing. Patricia Wrede - The Grand Tour Genre: Basics: Cecy and Kate, with husbands in tow, do Europe. Well, France & Italy, anyway. And, not satisfied with just thwarting a small family crisis this time, they save the world. Like the previous book, there’s not a lot of substance, but it’s enjoyable enough. Kate’s passages are from her diary, while Cecy’s are from her deposition, so there’s a lot more “personal” information about Kate - and, as in the last book, Kate is the character who grows the most through the story. Cecy just forges ahead through whatever happens with unabated awesomeness. Why I like it: Because I like Cecy, and adore Lady Sylvia, and it’s fun to see them again. That’s it, really. Favorite Part: “Contessa, release that goat!” Weakest Part: The unexpectedly high level of sexual tension between Cecy and Thomas. That bugged me. A lot. Why, exactly, must every strong, interesting, and self-confident female character be at odds with every strong, interesting, self-confident male character? Is there no other model for their interaction than this flirtatious antagonism? Patricia Wrede - Magician’s Ward Genre: Basics: Kim and Mairelon finally get around to falling in love! Okay, that’s at the end, so it’s kind of a spoiler, but it’s not like it was unexpected or anything. The rest of it’s just fluff, after all. There’s a big magical conspiracy, and an Evil Villain who does Evil Things and must be thwarted, and there’s an Annoyingly Proper Old Lady, who must be annoying and proper, and various Social Engagements and Shopping Trips and Society Gossip … and really it’s all about them falling in love. Why I like it: Mairelon’s mom is pretty awesome, and I still love Renee D’auber. And of course it’s nice to see Kim flounce around and struggle with the foppery and nonsense of high society, while still also struggling with the ruthlessness and nonsense of … other society. (But there’s not much in the way of the ruthlessness of high society, which was more evident, if less straightforward, in the previous book.) Favorite Part: The discussion about why spells should be cast in a language other than the caster’s first language. I think it’s a great way to look at why we read fiction - that is, stories that aren’t factually true, words and concepts that are unfamiliar to us. One reason I like to read is so that I can get enough intellectual distance from a stories’ ideas that I can examine those ideas without necessarily having to graft them into my beliefs regarding what is “true”. Weakest Part: This book, like the first one, tends to rush through things. The quick pace makes it fun to read, but not so easy to figure out what’s going on. Patricia Wrede - The Raven Ring Genre: Basics: Patricia Wrede has written a whole series of books set in a world called Lyra. I’ve read a few; honestly, though, I liked the Enchanted Forest Chronicles - the characters, the tone, the world in general - so much that I never really got into the Lyra novels. But this one … A kick-ass warrior chick from some backwoods warrior clan (or whatever) comes to the big city to kick some ass and unravel the weirdness surrounding her mother’s mysterious death. Then there’s, I don’t know, politics or something, but mostly it’s about the ass-kicking. And there’s multiple hot guys, and creepy bad guys, and snarky society broads. Why I like it: Because of Eleret’s arsenal of weapons, tricks, and pithy if bloodthirsty philosophies. Favorite Part: When Eleret decides, screw it, I’ll just wear my warrior gear to dinner with the society broads. And she does. Weakest Part: It’s a bit difficult to follow, and seems a little more … full of itself … than some of the other things I’ve read from Wrede. But who’s complaining? Unraveling it is half the fun. Diana Wynne-Jones - Dark Lord of Derkholm Genre: Basics: If you’ve read many (at all) fantasy novels, you’ve seen the patterns, and they all start looking a little alike. Well, Wynne-Jones takes the idea that they are like tours of the same fantastic landscape and runs with it, creating not only a wonderfully vivid and believable world with fascinating characters but also a gripping story that both fits into and mocks the conventions of fantasy literature … I lost you back there around “vivid”, didn’t I? Okay. Forget it, then. It’s fun and funny, especially if you like fantasy. Or if you don’t, and think they’re all the same. Then you might like it even more. Why I like it: Because it has absolutely oodles of awesome characters, including Querida who may be, no lie, my favorite character ever because she’s so powerful, remorseless, and brilliant, and also because the ultimate incarnation of evil in the story is an entrepreneur with a comb-over named Roland Chesney. And also, nobody portrays the dynamics of a large (and loud) family as well as Wynne-Jones. Favorite Part: The scene where Blade, waiting for Derk and his sort-of evil entourage at the final camp, entertains a steady stream of pissy delegates coming to complain about the many things that are going wrong with the tours. Especially Wendela Horselady, the ultra-vehemnant horse activist. Or any scene with Scales in it. Weakest Part: The ending is perhaps a little rushed. On the other hand, the threads of the story are brought together so deftly that I don’t care. Also, Mara is a despicably underutilized character. Seriously. Diana Wynne-Jones - House of Many Ways Genre: Basics: Another not-quite-as-good-as-Howl’s-Moving-Castle-sequel to Howl’s Moving Castle. Not that it’s bad - it’s good enough, really - but mostly it’s just candy. Charmain Baker is manipulated into house-sitting for her great-great-uncle-by-marriage (really … I think) while he has a magical medical procedure (apparently elves, those who didn’t Go West, are now in the healthcare industry). And she has all sorts of adventures and what-not, just as she ought. And there’s a dog. Dogs make everything better. Though come to think of it, there were dogs in the other two books, too. They were cool, too. Why I like it: Because any book with Howl & Sophie is better than no book with Howl and Sophie. And because Peter is actually pretty unlikeable, and the plot is pretty easy to predict, so you can focus on the reactionary Smurfs and Waif’s charming antics. And Sim (I think that’s his name … the butler, anyway) is awesome. Favorite Part: Anytime we see Jamal & his dog again. Weakest Part: Howl really lost something when he got his heart back and stopped being The Love Interest. I think it was his lack of respectability … he’s just not as interesting as he was in Howl’s Moving Castle. Diana Wynne-Jones - The Lives of Christopher Chant Genre: Fun-o-meter: Basics: So you want to know Chrestomanci’s story? Here it is. This is the second book in the Chrestomanci series. Also, weird family dynamics (Wynne-Jones does family dynamics like nobody’s business) and crazily imaginative capers. This one’s more about the complicated morality of close relationships than about the magic-as-an-exploration-of-power, but that’s in evidence too. Why I like it: Because everyone’s using everyone else for something. And, like the first novel, the from-a-child’s-point-of-view writing is really strong, and adult insights or opinions aren’t grafted onto the main characters. Favorite Part: Actually, there are two. First, Christopher’s first few conversations with the goddess, and second, the head cook of Chrestomanci Castle remembering the pranks of his student days. Whatever they were. Weakest Part: Millie’s confession. I mean, honestly. Robin McKinley - Rose Daughter Genre: Basics: Twenty years after Beauty, Robin McKinley writes another retelling of Beauty and the Beast. And it’s great, too. This one has more magic in it, and is a little more … involved in general, so it’s a bit harder to follow, but it’s great. There are bad guys in this one, too (well, kind of), which I really love because it calls attention to, rather than glossing over as Beauty did, just how beastly the townspeople were to Beauty’s family after the loss of their father’s fortune. In fact, even after they move to Longchance, the story continues to make the point (at least I think it does) that people - un-enchanted, non-monstrous, normal people - can be really awful to one another, and that much more often than not, it is people who are to blame for most of the world’s suffering. Why I like it: For the ending, and also for the suggestion, especially in the poetry reading scene, that the stories people tell, both about themselves and others, are almost never just stories, but instead are invested with the motives and ideas of the storyteller, and so reading or hearing them is never (or perhaps should never be) a purely passive activity. Favorite Part: Lionheart hitting one of the caravan members over the head with a horse collar. I know, it all comes down to fight scenes with me. Oh, well. Weakest Part: All the overtly meaning-laden names. It’s probably a brilliant authorial decision, but it bugs me. Also, Beauty’s room, with its every surface carved, painted, woven, or sewn with roses, sounds positively atrocious. I mean, repeated themes in a space’s décor are great, but enough is enough! Patricia Wrede - Mairelon the Magician Genre: Basics: I hate rags-to-riches stories. I know; I’m unpatriotic. So sue me. This is more of a rags-to-magical-and-intellectual-apprenticeship-and-the-possibility-of-not-so-crappy-of-a-life story, though, so I guess it’s okay. Kim is a street rat who dresses like a boy and tries to avoid housebreaking so that she won’t be dragged either into prostitution or to the gallows by the various interested parties who float around the nineteenth-century London underground like so many chunks in a septic tank. And then Kim gets mixed up with a magician and his kind-of nefarious but kind-of not dealings, and gets to go around burgling country houses, mimicking posh accents, skulking in shrubberies, and all sorts of zany fun. Why I like it: Because it’s really just one ridiculously convoluted thing after another, and everybody in it is absurd enough to carry it off. Favorite Part: Renee D’auber in the final scene. Okay, in any scene. But especially the last one. Weakest Part: Well, I said convoluted, and I meant it. Unless you take notes (and who does that?) or read it more than once, you’ll probably still be confused by the end. But it’s fun anyway. Religious Objectors Might Object To: Magic & a bit of sexual content. Not like, you know, people having sex, but people dealing with the consequences of adultery and the expectations of propriety in a society at once obsessed with and scared of sexuality. (Like, you know, ours.) Patricia Wrede - Sorcery & Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot Genre: Basics: Books like this are like cotton candy. No, you don’t get to look down your nose at anybody after reading it, and no, it doesn’t really offer much in the way of intellectual nourishment, but gosh it’s fun. The book is structured as a series of letters between two cousins, written in character by Patricia Wrede (whom I adore) and Catherine Stevermer (whom I’ve never heard of, but she’s apparently a big fantasy writer too - who knew?). This was actually a game that these two authors played, and it turned out almost bookish, so they whipped it into shape and sent it to a publisher, and - voila - it now has two sequels, and is actually pretty delightful. Light, but delightful. Why I like it: Partly because it’s something new from one of my most beloved authors, but mostly because it’s fun. Also, Aunt Elizabeth rocks my world with her straight-laced bitchiness. Favorite Part: When Lady Sylvia (my favorite character in the two that I’ve read so far, even surpassing Cecy, which is pretty incredible) out-snarks Miranda at whatever party that was. Weakest Part: The menfolk, especially Thomas. The more I re-read this (and the next one, where he’s even worse), the more I think he’s just an asshole. Not, you know, exasperating and infuriating and attractive, like, say, Mr. Knightley in Jane Austen’s Emma - just basically a selfishly witty prick. The female characters in this book positively sparkle, but the men … they’re just kind of there. Well, turnabout’s fair play, I suppose. Patricia Wrede - Talking to Dragons Genre: Basics: This is the final book in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. It’s also the one written first. Um, Daystar, Cimorene’s son, has to go into the Enchanted Forest and, um, I can’t really tell you. Anyway, go off and seek his fortune type stuff, make friends, make enemies, blow up fire-witches, etc. Why I like it: Several reasons. First, Shiara is the most teenage-girl-like teenage girl character I’ve run across in a long time. (Which is to say, annoying and whiny, but still, you know, interesting.) Second, the story actually comes together really well, and it’s still fun to reread even now that I can practically quote the whole thing. And finally, I love the continued refrain of just how important it is to be polite to everyone. Favorite Part: Cimorene’s parenting style. Especially her advice that, “if you’re going to be rude, do it for a reason and get something from it.” That advice has stood me in good stead. That, and also the single line towards the end that some of the wizards were on the King’s side. This fascinates me. Weakest Part: There isn’t one. Read it. Read it now. Diana Wynne-Jones - Castle in the Air Genre: Basics: What if your daydreams of hidden royalty and falling in love with a beautiful princess came true? What if people who begin stupid, wasteful wars had to live like the soldiers they have defeated? What if … um … someone kidnapped thirty-odd princesses for their loud-mouthed harem and hijacked a moving castle to keep them kidnapped … and … what are Sophie and Howl up to these days, anyway? Why I like it: Because it’s fun. Not as fun as the first one, but still fun. Favorite Part: Abdullah ranking his father’s first wife’s relatives in order of how much he hates them. Weakest Part: Abdullah & Flower in the Night are nowhere near as interesting as the -many - other characters, basically just whining, planning, pouting, and whatever else, whereas everybody else is executing masterful thieving schemes, turning bandits into toads, terrorizing people in the form of giant panthers, and what-not. Diana Wynne-Jones - Charmed Life Genre: Basics: This book - in fact, the entire Chrestomanci series, of which it is the first - really takes the idea of magic as a metaphor for power or influence and runs with it. This one is particularly awesome because it spends so much time and detail on examining what it’s like to be or feel powerless in a world of powerful and often selfish people. Why I like it: Because of Cat. And because Wynne-Jones doesn’t bend over backwards trying to make you like him, or even to decide whether he’s “good” or “bad”, “right” or “wrong”. Instead, it just lets him wander bewilderedly through a storm of smart and increasingly scary people who all have designs on him, and lets you watch almost disinterestedly to see whether he makes it. (Also, Chrestomanci’s hot. But, unfortunately, taken.) Favorite Part: Where Chrestomanci calls Cat to his study. Comic genius. Oh, also, any scene with Janet in it. I love Janet. Weakest Part: I … don’t know. I liked it all. Some critic I am, eh? Patricia Wrede - Calling on Dragons Genre: Basics: This is my favorite book of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, the third one. It’s also the sad one, so if you don’t like sad books, be sure you have the next & final one on hand before you finish. The wizards steal Mendanbar’s sword (pay no attention to any Freudian ideas here) and now-pregnant Cimorene (& Co., along with a gluttonous floating six-foot blue rabbit-cum-donkey named Killer and some snarky cats) set off to steal it back. And run into difficulties. Why I like it: Because it’s the most complicated and interesting of the series, it doesn’t have a happy ending, it’s told from Morwen’s perspective, and it’s really funny. And Kazul gets to eat somebody. Favorite Part: Seeing Cimorene, after returning to the Enchanted Forest to see her life as she expected it to unfold completely wash away, move on. Weakest Part: Still the wizards. Vamist, though, makes up for it by being thoroughly weird and memorable. Diana Wynne-Jones - Howl’s Moving Castle Genre: Basics: Everybody loves a fairy tale with the least and youngest of the family succeeding against all odds. But … what about the eldest? Well, this bud’s for you. Sophie Hatter, oldest of three daughters in a market town hounded by a couple of powerful and unscrupulous magicians, runs afoul of the Witch of the Waste, then sets off to seek her fortune and perhaps find a good anti-wrinkle cream. Then she moves in with the debatably evil, definitely unprincipled Wizard Howl. And is the coolest, grouchiest, nosiest heroine ever. Why I like it: I love Sophie and Howl, and the chemistry between them. Sophie is so awesome and funny, and Howl is so wonderfully unheroish - vain, fickle, selfish … and well-dressed. Favorite Part: When Sophie zip-zip-zips her way around the countryside in half a borrowed pair of seven-league boots. Weakest Part: There isn’t one. This book is perfect and charming. You’ll like it. Or you’ll hate it. I don’t care; I like it. Patricia Wrede - Searching for Dragons Genre: Basics: This is the second of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, where Mendanbar and Cimorene meet and fall in love while on a quest to rescue Kazul from the wizards. And, you know, whatever. More dragons! More zaniness! Why I like it: I like it because of all the random extra characters who show up to be funny and odd, like the giants, and Herman, and the lion guarding the pool, and … who are all extremely well-drawn and memorable. Favorite Part: The scenes at the giants’ castle, and the way that Mendanbar & Cimorene continually think up obvious but unorthodox solutions to the difficulties faced by many of the characters they run across. Or, possibly, the Right Honorable Wicked Stepmothers’ Traveling, Drinking, and Debating Society. Not so much because they really do anything, but because I would love to be part of such a coolly-named club. Weakest Part: The wizards are still pretty single-mindedly bad, though you see them being a bit more … bureaucratic and squabbly … this time, which is fun. Other than that, I don’t have many complaints. Robin McKinley - Beauty Genre: Basics: This is the Robin McKinley gateway drug. Beautiful imagery, engaging characters - everybody in the story is likeable and interesting, even the horse - and a very low level of the freakiness, grossness, or disturbing thematic material that shows up in some of her other stories make it a wonderfully fun experience to read, but it’s still, you know, smart. This is the first re-telling McKinley wrote of the story of Beauty and the Beast. It’s also the most straightforward one. Unlike the next two re-tellings, McKinley seems to use the fairy tale as little more than an outline for the love story she wants to tell and doesn’t comment too much about what the fairy tale means. In many ways it’s another bloody coming-of-age and falling-in-love story where a somewhat insecure and socially disconnected young person becomes slightly more secure and socially connected young person, only not as boring as that makes it sound. Why I like it: Truly? Because the Beast is incredibly hot. Actually, McKinley’s male lead characters are all pretty hot, but this one’s my favorite. Perhaps reading this book when I was a young, bitter, impressionable, and single teenager shaped (warped?) my perceptions, or perhaps McKinley and I have similar, er, tastes, or whatever, but … damn. Favorite Part: When Beauty and the Beast take turns reading to each other. It’s such a delightfully intimate passage. Weakest Part: The explanation at the end about why the Beast was made a beast. It seemed a little … skipped over. (Of course, he’s had two hundred years to put his side of the story together, and he is talking to his chickybonbon, and hey, we all see things the way we want to some extent, so I guess it makes sense. But still.) Religious Objectors Might Object To: Magic (even though the characters aren’t really practitioners). Also, the idea that one doesn’t see what one doesn’t believe in might rub some the wrong way. Other than that, it’s pretty unobjectionable. Well, I guess a young woman living alone w/ an older man (ish) might not fly, but then, that’s the story, you know? Patricia Wrede - Dealing with Dragons Genre: Basics: This is the first - chronologically speaking - book of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. Princess Cimorene runs away from her proper and stodgy life of princessing to have adventures, seek her fortune, and make cherries jubilee. It’s a delightful little adventure story that makes intelligent fun of the world in which most of the disneyfied fairytales are set, kind of like Shrek but with less flatulence. Why I like it: Because there are dragons. There’s lots of other awesomeness going on - the overriding structure of influential and intelligent women wielding power in a complicated and often hostile world, the exploration of valuable versus valueless information, especially as regards formal education, the absurdities and pettiness of political decision-making … – but mostly it’s because there are dragons. Favorite Part: Either the overly dramatic djinn or the advice-dispensing talking frog scenes are my favorite, probably. Or maybe Roxim and his absentminded destructiveness and allergy attacks. Or … Weakest Part: The wizards are pretty one-dimensional. This problem continues through the entire series; there’s not a lot of depth or complexity, just more greedy, smarmy malice. Then again, who needs depth? Religious Objectors Might Object To: Spells & magic, and possibly themes of disobedience toward parents. I think, personally, the story is more of an indictment of child-rearing practices that give greater consideration to the parents’ expectations of normalcy than to the capabilities and personality of their individual child than it is a justification or glorification of rebellion, but to each their own. Diana Wynne-Jones - Deep Secret Genre: Basics: You know how every text is kind of a world in itself, even the ones set in a world that’s relatively like the “real” one? And the way that world is put together tells you a lot about what the writer is (cue authoritative, meaning-laden Literary Critic voice) saying about this one? Well, Dianna Wynne-Jones, not satisfied with that level of complexity, actually went to the trouble of coming up with a way for all the worlds (or at least most of them) that she’s created - and it’s a whole potful by now - to sort of hang together and exist in the same multiverse, so that the insights she gives in her various tales can interrelate in all sorts of new and complicated ways. Well, this is the novel in which you finally get a few explanations about how that works. Also, there’s a fun and exciting story. Why I like it: Because it’s a well-done spoof of a genre I like, because it takes far too many minor characters and makes them all not only believable but interesting, and because it reminds me that there really are people - real people - way weirder than I am. Favorite Part: The ending. I don’t think it’s giving anything away to say that Wynne-Jones has the deus ex machina ending down to an art form. She does seem to use it a lot, but it - at least in my opinion - works far more often than it doesn’t. Weakest Part: The bad guys. They weren’t nearly creepy enough for me. Yeah, they were bad, but they weren’t nearly as bad as the good guys were good, you know? «1»
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