The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
This one’s a classic. The sons of Adam, Peter and Edmund, and the daughters of Eve, Susan, and Lucy, find the land of Narnia through a wardrobe of a crazy mansion in the English countryside during the war.
This is a classic, and I read it as a kid. I absolutely loved the animated version that was made in 1979. It’s slightly different, but not different enough to really make a difference. The book on the other hand? I am not wild about. It’s not terrible, but I’m not in love with the prose as it’s written. It’s definitely of it’s time, and I’m not a fan. Also, Edmund is a jerk.
Fire Horses. Did I say that loud enough? FIRE HORSES. That was enough to get me invested. The book revolves around a race involving phoenix horses, horses made from alchemy. Want your horse to have armor? Use onyx powder. Want someone else’s horse to have hallucinations? Use wormwood. Win the race, and a huge purse is yours.
The book centers around 3 points of view, quite literally. Imelda is a Davidian, a race of people who came across the sea to subjugate the Ashlords. They lost, and while not slaves, they’re poor and carefully watched. Adrian’s a Longhand, a splinter group of Ashlords that no longer worships the gods. Think of them as the poor cousins, hell bent on rebellion. And Pippa is an Ashlord, the daughter of 2 previous champions, and expected to win. However, she’s considering throwing the race for the boy she loves.
Three characters, three points of view, literally. Imelda is first person, Adrian is third, and Pippa is second. It’s weird to read a book in second person, but Reintgen does it well, and the majority of the story is told in the other two points of view, so it doesn’t get grating. I would have liked more of Pippa, but not in second tense.
The book doesn’t have enough phoenix horses, or racing, in my opinion. It takes nearly half the book to get to the races, and the set up of the three characters is a little tedious. Then the race is only 3-4 days, which is a bummer. I could have gone for more race shenanigans.
Also, the book is really about the rebellion that’s brewing, which isn’t mentioned in the blurb, and a bit of a surprise when you get into the book a bit. You think it’s a book about a great race, but it’s about the oppression of Davidians and the desired rebellion of Longhands, and that carries through the book. I wasn’t interested in the book for a rebellion. I wanted phoenix horses.
Set in either a post apocalyptic world, where people have gotten their life back, there are people called Powereds. They’re like superheroes, but without all the kryptonite and radioactive spiders. Some came tell the future, some can manipulate metal.
Raven can fly.
She’s grown up on a farm in a small, rural community, and is content there, until one day her Da goes to town and never comes home. Suddenly, the army’s at her door, rounding her up, along with everyone else in the area they can find, and taking them to Sky City. They try to take her to an orphanage, but she escapes and runs off with Lilly, a young girl who can manipulate metal. They live a rough lift, hidden away, but essentially on the street, for a couple years.
Ultimately, Raven learns there’s crap going on surrounding the Powered of Sky City, and ends up involved. Through that, and the fact she can see a man lurking about that no one else can see, she learns she’s destined for greater things, if she chooses to accept that path. And, if she doesn’t, well, that’s not pleasant.
In a way, the book has a lot to say about the idea that great power has great responsibility, but not in an annoying, preachy way. No one comes out and tells a 16 year old, very possibly orphaned girl, that her special Powers might be the key to finding out not only what happened to her Da, but to what happened to a bunch of towns. They do ask for her help where they can, but they also insist she’s protected, and that she doesn’t overdo it. There’s a spot where she disobeys them and gets to close to something, and instead of them being happy she got results, they’re very realistically pissed she risked herself. It’s refreshing that the teen who can save people still gets her butt chewed for being impulsive.
Ultimately I really liked this book and devoured it in record time, I think in one sitting, or in two because I absolutely had to do something in between, like sleep. It was an enjoying read, and Raven felt like a real teen girl who was stuck in the middle of a lot of bad situations, without a guiding hand.
Part of the Sterling and Stone Stone Tablet Series of basics, this one talks about how too much detail can bog down your books and keep the reader from getting invested. I read it because I was critiquing a manuscript that had a lot of detail that did exactly this, and it made me think of the book, sitting unread on my tablet.
Detail isn’t a bad thing, but we don’t need a look in the mirror description for every character we meet, especially if all we’re going to see of them is one scene. And some people are hell bent on giving us everything, instead of a few well placed details.
Ultimately the book is short, and probably could have stood to offer a few more examples, like taking a long scene and cutting it short by cutting unnecessary details. But all in all, not bad.
Stage Dreams – Melanie Gillman
This is a super cute graphic novel, done in coloured pencil, about a woman named Flor who’s also the Ghost Hawk, a notorious stage coach robber. She kidnaps Grace, a trans woman, from a stage she’s robbing when she finds it carrying paper money, and not the gold or jewels she expected. Together, they team up to steal maps and documents from the confederates.
I loved this, it was so cute. I’d seen it on a Booktuber’s channel (Chandler Ainsley) and when she loved it, I decided to check it out. It is adorable, and so well done. Flor is fantastic, and she’s a latinx, so it’s queer positive and POC positive, which we need more of. Grace is a trans woman, and the novel has Flor take it in stride, being trans positive. It’s fantastic.
The artwork is fantastic, done in coloured pencil, and according to the footnotes, as true to the time as the author/artist could make it. There’s references to the photos used to draw up the fort and various things, so you know the author/artist wasn’t phoning it in. It’s refreshing.
The novel isn’t long, but it’s a fun read, and it’s always worth supporting a small press that’s trans, queer, and POC positive.
Grounding Griffin – Lucy Lennox
Book #4 in the Made Marian series, this one follows freelance writer Griffin, the first of the adopted Marian siblings. Thrown out of his house for being gay, he ended up spending a lot of time at the shelter the Marians volunteered at, eventually being adopted by them. Now he’s spending his time picking up men using cheesy pickup lines for an article, and driving the local bartender nuts.
Sam thinks Griffin is a manwhore for consonantly picking up men in his bar. He’s only bartending because he lost his job as a chef at a high end restaurant. Turns out he got the wrong delivery of food the3 day a food critic showed up, and the critic blasted him for the dinner options. Que being fired, and working in a bar. What he doesn’t know is Griffin wrote the review.
Cure fun, not a lot of angst or drama. When Sam finds out that Griffin wrote the review, he’s understandable pissed, but in the end, true love conquers all. When Griffin finds out that Sam loves the graphic novels he’s been doodling, he finds the courage to see about publishing them. Then they find a perfect restaurant space for Sam, which works for Griffin because he can work anywhere, and happily ever after happens. Cute, fluffy, and a quick read.
Maverick’s parents died when he was young, and instead of his grandmother taking him in, he was put in the foster system. He bears a grudge against grandma up until she dies, and he goes back home to South Carolina. There, he finds out why she couldn’t take him in, and more importantly, he finds Beau.
Beau’s been in love with Maverick since he was a teen, despite never expecting to see him again. Now that Maverick’s back, Beau needs him to fall in love with the tiny island community, so he won’t sell his grandma;s place to some big developer and ruin the charm of the island.
I liked this one quite a bit, because there was a bit more drama and a little less fluff in it. Beau has to convince Maverick the town’s worth keeping small and charming, and so you get a lot of small town goodness. I grew up in what’s little more than a wide spot in the road, with it’s own small community, so I can understand. Also, there’s a hurricane that comes in and ups the stakes, and I enjoyed seeing Maverick have to deal with it, and make some lasting judgement calls based on it. Overall, there was plenty of fluff and it was an easy read, but there was more to it that I liked versus the first few books.
Delivering Dante – Lucy Lennox
My favorite of the Made Marian books, and I think the best end to the six brother’s stories (I know there’s a Christmas one, but I haven’t read it yet). When Dante was 15,h is father, a homophobic preacher, discovered he was gay. He was trying to beat the gay out of him. Dante ends up rescused by AJ, who spitis him away to California, where he enters the foster care system, and eventually ends up at the same group home/shelter that Griffin and Maverick did. He’s adopted by the Marians, and given a second shot at becoming the man he’s supposed to be.
Now in his 20s, freshly graduated with an MBA, and looking to take over the fundraising and running of the now named Marian House, Dante is interested in AJ, despite not knowing he’s who saved him. Dante’s been so wrapped up in getting through school that he’s pretty green in the relationship department, and so he’s fumbling his way cutely through it with AJ when everyone and their dog decides hell has to cut loose. Great Aunt Tilly maybe sorta marries a senator, they end up getting kind of kidnapped in an RV, and oh, his homophobic father wants to run for office and is spinning Dante’s tale out of proportion. Thankfully, it gets resolved in the end.
Made Marian Shorts – Lucy Lennox
This is a collection of shorts involving side characters in the Made Marian world. The first story involves the “boyfriend” of Blue’s ex in Borrowing Blue. One involves the casual love interest of Jamie Marian in Taming Teddy. They’re cute and short, nice easy reads. Overall they’re not important to the Marian storylines, so they’re only okay. But if you want the full experience, go for it.