Tales from a Windy City

A wild and wicked wind has been wuthering* around our house today so we have withdrawn within.
And that's probably enough alliteration for now. It has however, been a perfect day for curling up and reading fairy tales, which is precisely what I have been doing.
I'd been meaning to read Cameron Dokey's fairytale retellings for the longest time and having settled down to 'just read one' I ended up gulping down... far more than I should have.
I started with Before Midnight which is presently my very favourite retelling of the Cinderella story and vastly superior to the original fairytale (Gasp, but true in my own honest opinion). Pure magic. With tears involved. It was all too short and I wept to dream again. Which is why kindle is so ridiculously temptatious. A click of the button and voila. Another dream to step within. I moved on to Dokey's retelling of the Sleeping Beauty, and while I will always love Robin McKinleys Rose Daughter with single hearted passion... Dokey's Beauty Sleep was also brilliantly done. Again my only complaint was it was too short. I wanted to stay with the characters longer. It was vivid and real and magical, humourous and oddly sly. Again at it's close I wept to dream again. And again kindle just lured. One click... just one click. Needless to say I continued through the retelling of Mulan (Wild Orchid, ) Rapunzel (Golden) and... um The Storyteller's Daughter. (Of which I will ramble at greater length anon, but let me just say Dokey very cleverly solved some very big problems with her chosen story) There may be more but I'm getting embarrassed at admitting I have NO willpower at stopping reading when I find a new love. None. Well, that's sort of obvious.
May I recommend Dokey's work - short (I could have happily lived within each story for two or three times the pages) but fresh and magical, with strong and likeable heroines and interesting twists.
Excuse me. I fear I have some re-reading to do. Also a rather messy household to set to rights.


*I love the word 'wuthering' it's so beautifully evocative. However (the shame) I hated Wuthering Heights and couldn't even bring myself to finish it. I loved all the other Bronte Sister works, Villette, The Professor, Jane Eyre, although the heros are decidedly dour. But I early came to the conclusion I had no desire whatsoever to spend time with Heathcliff and co. The Secret Garden also uses 'wuthering' and I admit to a strong preference for Hodgson Burnett's work (the shame...) Please tell me I'm not the only one! 

How Old is too Old?

How old is too old... that is my question du jour.
Specifically I'm wondering about the implications of having a (semi) adult as the protagonist in a Young Adult novel. My protagonist, Nell, is 21... so still in the technical range of the YA readership (13-25 I think) but do teenagers really prefer to have protagonists their own age? Or do they sometimes like to imagine ahead to what comes next?
I've been pondering other YA books that have adult protagonists, but most of the ones I can think of are in books that are the last of a series, so the protagonist will be eleven in book one, but twenty eight in book three or five - I'm thinking L.M Montgomery's, Ann of  Windy Willows, Emily's Quest here, or Tamora Pierce's In the Hands of the Goddess Series, when Alanna starts out as a page in Book One and ends a fully fledged knight in Book Four.
Robin McKinley's protagonists tend to be in the 'cusp' age - Outlaws of Sherwood, Beauty, The Hero and the Crown, but is she marketed at YA or is she cross over?
Michelle Coopers Montmoray series * again start as teens and grow to adulthood in the course of the series. Tara Moss's The Blood Countess has a character who is clearly beyond school, as well... but are these the exceptions that break the rule?
In writing Dragons' Nests I was inspired by Diana Wynne Jones Castles in the Air and Howl's Moving Castle - I wanted to write something with the same fizz to it, the same sense of the impossible seeming completely possible. The characters there, are, again, in the 'cusp.' But... when I think of these characters... maybe I do think 19 rather than 21? Does it matter? Let me do some Googling...
Am I just trying to talk myself around because I have no desire to go back to school? (Shiver.) Don't make me relive high school.  Noooooo!
And I want stuff to happen that can't happen if the protagonists are too young. I want travel, weddings and careers in my series. The next book in the series Bella is supposed to be inviting all the Griffins, Mermaids, Pixies, Dragons etc to her sisters wedding and dealing with the problems of Mermaid attendance. (Large amounts of sea-swimming water required)
Basically, I want a frothy, fun series.
And the teen years are hard. (Or at least in my book they are, I should take a poll)
The twenties are fun. You can do stuff. Open shops, travel, explore, party. You have mastery.
Or should I look at it as an experiment - how much freedom can you give an imaginary teen and still have them believable? Self-Mastery....

Should I try to make my protagonist younger... could I? would the story still work? would the series still work? Would I still have fun?

*Reminder to self - go back and read the first book. It's lame to only read the last two books in a trilogy. Especially when you loved them so! 

Falling For the The FitzOsbornes

I've just finished reading the final book in a fantastic trilogy  - The FitzOsbornes At War by Michelle Cooper.
And it's a find.
I've been finding a lot of finds recently. Such a thrill!
My interest was piqued when I read a review claiming the first book in the trilogy A Brief History of Montmoray was possibly better than I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith and, being a great fan of Dodie Smith (also the author of 101 Dalmations and The Twilight Barking) I had to find out for myself. And do you know, I think that reviewer might just be right. In fact (gulp) I think I liked the Montmoray Journals series more than  I Capture the Castle... which makes them classics.
A find.
The 'Montmoray Journal' series was based around a brilliant idea superbly executed.
Cooper's brilliant idea was inventing a small island nation (Montmoray) and plonking it in the Bay of Biscay (the bit of Sea on the Atlantic side that's cupped by France and Spain) The island is pretty much uninhabited except for the somewhat eccentric royal family who are, at the stories beginning (I still need to read the first book in the series,) teenagers. The series is set in the lead up to World War Two and during World War Two with the second and third book in the trilogy being based largely in England.
As rulers (in exile) of their own country the FitzOsbornes meet all sorts of interesting people and I was massively impressed by the historical accuracy and detail. The casual mention of Rosalind Christie, Agatha Christie's daughter, as a debutante was a nice touch. The description of the Kennedy family (of J.F.K fame) when Senior Kennedy was an ambassador in the UK was... thought provoking. The loopy Mitford clan came out as loopy as I always thought them. And very interesting stuff about Edward and Wallis Simpson...)
And then... even though I thought the series historically superb, the details never got in the way of the story.  Hitler's rise to power and the political build up was brilliantly depicted in The FitzOsbornes in Exile while The FitzOsbornes at War was a simply stunning (in a heartrending way) depiction of countries at war and how everyones lives were shattered... and then rebuilt. The heroine (who is writing her journal) is strong and sweet and the family is (despite their Montmoraian heritage) very quirkily English. In a good way. Already I'm looking forward to re-reading. A find, a find, a good find!

I started reading The Fitzosbornes in Exile yesterday, finished it by eleven last night and immediately downloaded The FitzOsbornes at War. Well, I had to. (Spoiler Alert, sort of) The FitzOsbrones in Exile ends with World War Two breaking out, so I had to see that everyone survived the war and found happy ever afters...

I've just finished The FitzOsbornes at War which was perfect. By which I mean I can't think how it could have been better. (Except, well, someone died who clearly should not have. But..) It was tragic and terrible and uplifting and romantic and sweet and completely heartbreaking and I finished it in tears - but they were good tears. Truly! 

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New Love

Such an excitement!
I have a new author to add to my very-very-favouritest list. It doesn't happen nearly often enough for my liking (but probably more often than is good for keeping up with the laundry) but when it does it's a fireworks and champagne event.
This wondrous authors name is Laini Taylor and the book that has me stopped in my tracks with awe and wonder is Daughter of Smoke and Bone. She has a backlist (which I need to track down) but this is the book that has taken the world - including yours truly, by storm.  With the wonder of the modern world Daughter of Smoke and Bone has its own Youtube.

The azure-haired heroine is brave, resourceful, loyal and unique.
The plot is intricate, playful, heartbreaking and enchanting and hinges around teeth.
And daemons.
And angels.
And the war between the daemons and the angels. And forbidden love between one daemon and one angel.
I really didn't see how Taylor was going to make it all pan out. I couldn't work out at all what the thing with the teeth was all about. Teeth just lack that certain something in the romance and adventure stakes.
But not to worry.
It all pans out beautifully. All threads are tied.
Of course, there is a horrific emotional cliff-hanger, and the second book in the trilogy isn't due out for months and months and months, but the book is so satisfying, so rich and dense and lyrical. There are images in the book that will stay with me till the day I die. And I'm glad they will.
Action spans Prague, Morocco, the Daemons workshop and the world of Angels and Daemons.
I really want to go back.

Pegasus, Robin McKinley (Oh the cruelty!)

Recently, at the library, as I was running around after two small, giggling and squealing hooligans,futilely trying to say the library's not the place for tiggy, I snatched up a book by one of my very very favouritest authors. 
I've known it was out for awhile, as the reviews I had glanced at hadn't been that enthusiastic and I was scared of being disappointed. 
I wasn't disappointed. In Pegasus, Robin McKinley made up another rich and wonderful world, another likeable, dog-loving, horse-loving (in this case more Pegasus loving)heroine, and two more rich and dense cultures. The main character Sylvi, was a delight to spend time with, and her bond-mate and best friend the black Pegasus, Ebon, who introduces her to his elegant and graceful culture had all the best qualities of a teenager - playfulness, inventiveness, lack of ceremony. 
For the time I was reading I was totally immersed and interruptions found me blinking and confused. 
As usual the writing was descriptive and warm and all too easy to be lost in. There was wonder. There were sections that just made my heart sing and soar.
It wasn't until I was reaching the end of the book that I began to twig to the fatal flaw. 
There weren't that many pages to go and yet nothing had really been resolved - it seemed like a climax had been built to - but not enough words left to fix everything in a way that was... fulfilling. 
Frowning began. Both at the thought of the book ending (Nooooo!) and that... I didn't see how the resolution could be crammed in. 
So I did some rapid googling... and discovered there would be no resolution. The story had been cut in half (McKinley doesn't believe in sequels so it's 'one story in two books') and ... this is the killer -
- The next book is not due out till 2014. 
That's right folks. 
2014. 
So yeah. 
Much as I loved it. 
(And I did, I did I did! I will re-read it again very very soon. And then re-read it and then put it on my too-be-reread every year list) It was alive and lovely and rapidly became very very dear to me. 
I would advise you not to read this first half until 2014 when you can read the story in it's entirety and thus not be left hanging for  two *&%$##%^^ years. 

House of Many Ways

The rain came down and we took refuge in the library, and although I knew I shouldn't, as I always lose books or the dog eats them, or the kids get goo on them or tear the covers off, I saw a Diana Wynne Jones I hadn't read, and pounced.
House of Many Ways is about a young girl house-sitting a Magicians Magical house and searching for a secret to save her kingdom, as well as finding herself gainful employment as the Kings Library Assistant - among many, many other things - including evil lubbocks disguised as normal people, deceitful princes and wonderful witches. 
House of Many Ways claimed to be the sequel to Howl's Moving Castle, which I love, although I was curious as I had always thought that Castles in the Air (another LOVE) was the sequel to Howl's Moving Castle. 
And... House of Many Ways was inventive and playful and fantastical, with a lovely library-assistant as the main character (always something to make my librarian heart sing) but... the hype was too big. It didn't quite live up to my shiver-happy expectations of a book with Howl and Sophie in it. 
For one thing, Howl and Sophie were minor characters at the very end (although I did enjoy Howl's appearance) and for another it seemed to lack the - I think I'm looking for exuberance of the two first books. 
Howl's Moving Castle and Castles in the Air I found to be enjoyable, fantastical romps. This one seemed heavier. Less rompish and more like hard work - interesting hard work. But without the same light touch. 
But maybe I just read it on a bad day. Maybe I let my expectations spoil me for it's true worth (and there were some wonderful scenes and characters)? 


Have you ever had author let down - the first books in a series are great - the last... not as great? 
Do you give them a second read - a second chance to love them on their own merits?