Except the Queen - Jane Yolen and Midori Snyder

★★★★★★★★★★ (2/10)

This book was disappointing at best. I like the Jane Yolen books I’ve read in the past, so maybe my expectations were a little too high, but Except the Queen just bored me to tears. There were no characters that really caught my attention, no detail, and the plot was so bare-bones that it took me longer than it should have to read. I kept stopping because it was so difficult to get into the story, and there were so many things that were just vague images that never cleared up. There are also chapters where you have no idea whose perspective you are seeing, and it seems to add nothing to the plot.

I was expecting something with the emotional intensity of The Pit Dragon Trilogy or the wonderful storytelling of Sword of the Rightful King, but I got none of these. I almost wonder if the collaboration between Yolen and Snyder is what made the novel so uninteresting. Other collaborative works that I’ve read have turned out pretty well, and followed a similar format, where the main characters write letters to each other in addition to writing directly to the reader about what’s happening to them.

The characters were not fleshed out at all. There are two fairies who are cast out of the Greenwood, and they seem to dwell on that fact. Eventually, they begin to see that there was a good reason for it, but it seems like the authors are so preoccupied in showing how the fairy sisters react to human world objects, like magic brownies, than the emotions that go along with those discoveries. It’s obvious how someone would react to completely foreign objects and customs, so more attention should have been given to who these women are and why they act as they do. There are snippets of information about their pasts, but nothing to add to the superficial image that comes across throughout the novel.

There are also a young girl and boy, each found by one of the fairy sisters. The two young ones both have problems that involve both the human and fairy world, but their problems are so vague. The girl, Sparrow, first appears to be a smoking, drinking mess who drowns her problems instead of facing them. I found out later that her problems went deeper than that, but her story did not make me involved. I didn’t really care about her, as I should have if Yolen and Snyder had taken more time and care in her character. The boy, Robin, was even more frustrating because for the longest time, there was no description of him! I wasn’t sure if he was a dog, a human, some weird combination of the two, or invisible. He only existed in my mind as a personality, not a substantial being.

Everything felt very haphazard, like the authors just took an idea and ran with it without refining it and thinking about the motivations of all of the characters. I believe that the authors did take time to write this as well as they could, but their collaboration probably held them back and allowed them to produce a simply mediocre novel. For example, there is a quote for which I’m not sure if I should blame the authors or their editors: “They each wore a voluminous black ankle-length dress that reached to their ankles…” If they were ankle-length dresses, should I expect them to reach to the ground, or their knees, or be miniskirts? That’s unfortunately the most memorable part of the book because someone overlooked such a simple error.

I’m not giving up on Jane Yolen, and I even might try to find something written by Midori Snyder, but this novel makes me wary of any books I may find in the future that is a collaboration of two writers. I would not recommend this book and I’m glad that I got it on clearance.

The Queen's Mistake - Diane Haeger

★★★★★★★★★★ (7/10)

The Queen’s Mistake is a fictional account of Catharine Howard’s life with King Henry VIII, but what I like best about it is that the author did a lot of research to keep it as historically accurate as possible. All of the dates and historical events are correct, and it’s nice to read an interesting novel where so much care was taken to be correct. It’s almost like a pleasant hidden history lesson.

I have to admit that prior to reading The Queen’s Mistake, I knew very little about Catharine Howard other than that she was Henry VIII’s fifth wife and that she was beheaded. I knew nothing about the circumstances regarding her relationship with the king, her private life, nor the events leading up to her execution. Nevertheless, I have usually found the stories about one of England’s most memorable king remarkably fascinating. When I was younger, I would read about the things Henry VIII accomplished, and then be shocked by the horrible things that happened in his life and during his reign. It’s simply a wonder that a queen like Elizabeth I could have a father as bizarre as Henry VIII, but it makes sense when he’s remembered by the cruelty he was capable of, while she is remembered for the great things she did for religion, the arts, and education.

As to the novel as a work of literature, it was immensely satisfying. I was immediately drawn in by the portrayal of Catherine’s unhappy home life. She lost both parents and was supported by a grandmother who seemed more likely to kill Catherine than show the any kindly emotion toward her. In a situation like this, it’s no wonder that a strong girl like Catherine would choose to rebel and do whatever it was that her grandmother would forbid. What was sad about her life is that she was always a pawn no matter who took care of her. As a woman with the Howard name in the 1500s, she was expected to marry well regardless of her own personal feelings on the matter. She probably thought that being tossed into her grandmother’s care, she had been forgotten about and was free to live her life as she chose. Unfortunately, she became, like her cousin Anne Boleyn, a tool to her uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, to improve his own position.

Catherine, however, was just a girl like any other and prone to the emotions and feelings any girl of her age would be. She was interested in love and happiness, and if money happened to be included, it was all the better. She liked having power, which would be one reason for her death, but it didn’t consume her as it did her family. Still, the novel was very emotional: one chapter could leave me feeling elated and hopeful for her happiness, even though in the back of my mind, I already knew what had to happen to her. In another chapter, the reality of her situation sunk in and it was thoroughly depressing that she would have to give up what she wanted. The worst of it was the novel made it seem that she did have a choice, but ultimately chose power over love. The passions and emotional turmoil that characterize this novel are what make Catherine Howard’s tragic story one that I just couldn’t put down.

The Queen’s Mistake is a fantastic historical novel. The history is perfect, the emotional pull is strong, and the characters are deep, complicated, and engrossing. Diane Haeger is now firmly on my list of authors I want to read more from.

Rose Daughter - Robin McKinley

★★★★★★★★★★ (5/10)

Robin McKinley, Day 2!

I thought Rose Daughter would be a good follow up to Beauty since it's McKinley's second shot at "Beauty and the Beast."  According to the book description, this one was written 20 years after Beauty. McKinley had 20 years to think about how to revamp the fairy tale and her own novel, and it shows.

Still, I have issues with Rose Daughter.  It is more cleverly written, which is highly enjoyable.  It feels more like it's written for adults who love fairy tales, rather than teenagers who are still children.  The roses also still play a very important role, and the family undergoes the same financial ruin.  I love that the sister's are much stronger characters.  They are modern women doing things for themselves instead of being taken care of by the men in their lives, as they were in Beauty.  These girls build and create and get dirty! Their father is much weaker, giving the sisters an opportunity to be strong and independent, but they all still depend on each other.  Their relationships strengthen and evolve a great deal after they move to the country.  

There are also parts of the novel where it just becomes difficult to follow.  It's harder than normal to imagine what the palace of the Beast looks like; it's almost as if the physical appearance of the castle changes, not just the inside of it.  Either that or McKinley can't decide what it really looks like in her own mind.  The only thing that is consistent about the palace is the glass house.  Obviously, this is because it's supposed to be this way.  Beauty even comments on the fact that it's the only thing she sees that never looks any different.  However, it's more than the fact that the castle's interior changes.  I have issues with the way McKinley describes what Beauty sees when she looks outside.  Beauty seems to think what she views from her windows stays the same, but I don't get that feeling from reading the descriptions. 

There are simply some things though that feel like she just had writer's block and tossed in some easy backups.  One of these is the introduction of the unicorns.  They just pop in with no warning and serve no purpose.  The old woman that Beauty meets calls the unicorns her "moon- and starlight friends," but nothing ever explains their reason for being there.  They are brought in so abruptly that I had to stop reading for a few minutes to get over the slight shock of finding imaginary creatures in such a novel about mere magic.  At one point, the unicorns save Beauty's life, but anything from within the spell could have easily done the same thing.  The unicorns aren't part of the Beast's imprisonment, so it did not make any sense to put them in the novel.  If McKinley had a good reason for them, I still haven't figured out what it is.  Unicorns are more useful in stories meant for small children,  unless they are the focus of the book, such as in Bruce Coville's Unicorn Chronicles series.

On a brighter note, the characters are enough to make this novel a credit to McKinley's writing skills, but, as I said before, this is just a part of the virtues and disappointments that go along with loving Robin McKinley as an author.

Beauty: A retelling of Beauty and the Beast - Robin McKinley

★★★★★★★★★★ (8/10)

I'm going to start a long rant (at least 5 books' worth) about the virtues and disappointments of Robin McKinley.  To me, this woman is the queen of fairy tales retold.  It's always a treat to read her novels and relive the twists she adds to classic stories of my childhood.

I've got to start somewhere, so I begin with one of my favorites - Beauty.  "Beauty and the Beast" is one of the fairy tales I've most enjoyed over the years, and never tire of hearing it told in new and different ways.  When I found this version, I was thrilled and finished it so quickly that I was a little upset that it was over so soon.  After the first read through, I was reminded of an old Jean Cocteau film, "La Belle et La Bête" that had a lot in common with McKinley's story, and this immediately caught my attention, making me want to finish the book that much more quickly.
McKinley weaves a tale that, while short in comparison to what could have been included, is so enrapturing,  that I can't image any fairy tale lover being able to not be in love with it.  It is simple in the way it's written, but it is full of emotion, danger, love, and, as with any good tale, a happy ending.  Beauty (for once!) is not actually beautiful.  This was the first thing that drew me into the novel because it changed a good portion of the setup.  Like most, I was used to being introduced to the Beauty character as if she were one of the most beautiful young women ever dreamed: a simple, kind girl with gorgeous looks that attracted people from miles around.  It was highly refreshing to encounter a girl where "Beauty" was actually a childhood nickname that stuck around.  Beauty's family was also a little different: she had two sister's who weren't absolute terrors.  Usually, the theme of wicked stepsisters comes in when the heroine has female siblings, but McKinley makes them helpful and kind from start to finish.

I was also interested in the way McKinley described the enchantment.  Unlike Disney's version, there's more to the Beast's imprisonment that meets the eye.  Instead of being explained at the beginning, McKinley pieces together the particulars of the spell, bit by bit.  It's is a spell of revenge, but the Beast is not necessarily the one who caused the original offense. It's also interesting that McKinley's Beast has been under the enchantment for over 200 years!   This was wholly unexpected, but it made more sense as the story wore on.
The roses were another interesting facet to this retelling.  Roses are important in every version of "Beauty and the Beast," but they are brought in very sweetly here.  They are lovingly described and it's easy to see the array of colors, smell the richness, and be awed by the simple wonders of them.  They are necessary to the story because they link the Beast to the outside world, but they also symbolize his humanity in a way that is completely heartbreaking.
Overall, Beauty is a good choice for a quick weekend read, and a must for fairy tale lovers!

Books of Pellinor - Alison Croggon

★★★★★★★★★★  9/10

Wow! Let's just start with that.

The Books of Pellinor - The Naming, The Riddle, The Crow, and The Singing, written by Australian author Alison Croggon, are a series of four novels all revolving around a young woman named Maerad. While the story follows the traditional fantasy format (where one person is destined to save her world from the evil clutches of a terrible villain), the characters that Croggon creates are so unbelievably detailed, that it's almost possible to put together each character's entire life story from birth up to the end of the series. This is probably the major highlight of each book.

Maerad herself is one of the most complicated and involving characters I've encountered in a very long time. She is both alluring and terrifying, but her struggle to simply be herself is what I found to be the most captivating part of the series. In The Naming, Croggon introduces Maerad as a slave girl destined for greatness, but Maerad is also a bundle of contradictions. She is only about sixteen, but she is experienced beyond her years due to the horrific life she has led under slavery. She is mentally strong, but lacks the friendship and love that is necessary to lead a sane life. It's slightly difficult to believe that such a girl could exist in such conditions without having gone mad or having given in to the horrors surrounding her daily life.

As the series goes on, she becomes more conflicted and develops a deepness of character that seems to mark Croggon's work in this series. Maerad is special even among those with whom she travels. She is destined to save her world, but with that destiny brings both damaging consequences and joyous triumphs. The conflict that dominates her fears and is one that follows her constantly is whether she is of the Light or of the Dark. This is common to most fiction: the fight between good and evil, but here, it's more difficult for Maerad and her companions to figure out. She wants the simple pleasures that she never had as a slave, such as good food, a nice place to live, kind and loving people around her, but part of her yearns for something else, something more like power. She battles within herself to be true to what she believes is right: to be a keeper of the Light, the Knowing, and to be good the people she loves.

Yet, she is so twisted in her upbringing that she does not understand almost anything that

comes easily to others, such as kindness, love, sharing, and charity.

The third book, The Crow, threw me the most.  Instead of Maerad being the absolute focus, as she had been for the last two books, this one is told in respect to Maerad's brother, Hem.  Croggon just leaves off with Maerad's portion of the story and delves into Hem's tale once the two of them part ways.  I did not understand why Croggon did this until more than halfway through The Crow.  She sends in a twist to the story that changes the every dynamic put forth through the first two books.  She changes the original prophecies, increases Hem's importance to Maerad's quest, and even makes me doubt Maerad as a heroine.  Originally, Maerad finding Hem seemed to be a way to boost Maerad's confidence in herself by giving her back something she had lost; Hem was a way to solidify her resolve in bringing an end to the troubles facing her world.  However, the third book changes that and adds more flavor to the whole tale. This book made me very sad, though, because it is always a little painful to think of children facing such horrors and demands as Hem does.  His entire world is torn apart for what seems to be the fourth time in his short life, and his woeful life does not seem like it will improve until Maerad cures the world of the evil that threatens them all.

The only drawbacks that I feel detract from these wonderful books are the similarities to other fantasy novels, both recent and classic. One of these similarities is the presence of "The Nameless One." On first reading about this character, I was struck with the thought of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. They are both evil people, men to be exact, who want nothing less than the total domination of the world at the expense of everyone and anyone but themselves. While they each have a real name in the books, the characters generally refuse to use that name, opting instead for a ridiculous pseudonym. There are definite differences between why the villains are named the way they are: Voldemort is "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" because characters are afraid that his name is cursed and will put them in danger; "The Nameless One" actually does refer to the fact that this person has given up one of his names in exchange for power, which is a dangerous thing to do in the Pellinor series. By the end of the books, this was an easy thing to overlook, but I believe that Croggon could have been a little more creative with her villain.

Another similarity is simply that Croggon followed the safe, easy, unwavering fantasy adventure format that has been around since Tolkien. One character is chosen, fated, or destined to be the salvation of life as they know it, and they have friends who help them along the way, but in the end, after much suffering, pain, and learning, they have to triumph alone. There were no new twists to the format, although the events in the book were highly unpredictable (Croggon never failed to keep you on your toes!), and I was just a little disappointed that yet another author could not let go of the safe way of writing.

All in all, this series is a complete winner in my mind. I will definitely treasure this series as one of the most provoking tales and one of the most captivating I have read. I look forward to reading more from Alison Croggon, should she decide to write other novels in the future.