Review: Dead Reckoning by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill

Dead Reckoning--Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill
June 2012 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens
336 pages--Goodreads

Jett is a girl disguised as a boy, living as a gambler in the old West as she searches for her long-lost brother. Honoria Gibbons is a smart, self-sufficient young woman who also happens to be a fabulous inventor. Both young women travel the prairie alone – until they are brought together by a zombie invasion! As Jett and Honoria investigate, they soon learn that these zombies aren’t rising from the dead of their own accord … but who would want an undead army? And why?

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A steampunk, wild west, zombie horror, gender bender adventure.  A book like this will either do really well or fail miserably.  Thankfully, Dead Reckoning did not fail.  It's nothing terribly serious, just a fun romp through all the genres.  It's not too gory, even for a zombie book.  No unnecessary romances.  Just sleuthing and sciencing and exploding, and escaping and actually very little gun slinging.  It is quick paced, easily read in just a day or two.

The characters are fun.  Jett is strong and lives her disguise.  She is always the gambling gunslinger outlaw.  Only every now and then does her femininity manifest, like when she fusses over her horse when he returns unharmed after a run in with zombies.  Gibbons is annoyingly committed to science and rationality even when the pursuit of science could get her killed, but that's what makes her fun.  White Fox, he actually isn't really fleshed out.  Side note complaint:  Why didn't Lackey and Edghill just make White Fox Native American?  I get the whole child-of-two-worlds-so-he-belongs-to-neither thing.  But seriously, why not just make him Native American?  Gibbons and Jett would have been fine with it.  Does the entire cast have to be white?  Don't start going off on whether it would be plausible or not; you have zombies, for crying out loud!  Plausibility no longer applies.

There is some major villain monologuing explaining just exactly how and why he accomplished his master scheme.  That could have been handled more skillfully.  And some loose strings are left hanging.  You inject Jett with a vial full of poison and we're not ever going to address that again?  That should have some effect on her even if it doesn't kill her.

Dead Reckoning is genre blending done well.  It's not the book for you if you're looking for a pure western or pure steampunk or a pure zombie horror, but it's a light combination of all three.  I see potential for sequels and would probably have to pick them up.

Frankenweenie Thoughts

We recently watched Tim Burton's Frankenweenie in my Frankenstein and Film class, and it was super cute in a creepy sort of way.  It's sweet; it's funny; it's clever.  There are so many references to other Frankenstein films, the original novel, and monster movies in general.  Shelly the pet turtle, Edgar E. Gore, Percephone's Bride of Frankenstein hairdo, Godzilla rampaging and crushing a car.  And of course, there's the usual Tim Burton visual vibe of tall, gaunt, pale, spindly legged people.  Everyone in town is distinctive, but the best representation of this is a character whose name on the script is just "Weird Girl."

Weird Girl

My favorite character is Mr. Rzykruski (no I can't pronounce his name), the science teacher styled after Vincent Price.  There is a (mild spoiler) great scene in which the towns people/mob are gathered at a parent meeting to question whether this science stuff is healthy for their children.  They accuse him of being a monster (figurative, not literal, need to clarify for this movie), but they give him a chance to defend himself, and he basically calls them ignorant, small-minded, fools and proceeds to use cracking-head-open imagery to describe his teaching.  So he basically plays right into the town's preconceived prejudices about him, and I can't decide if he did that intentionally or not. Since I can't find the clip of the parent meeting, here's a clip of one of Mr. Rzykruski's science lessons, just so you can get a feel for his character. 

Frankenweenie is a great adapation of the Frankenstein story.  So go forth and watch it on Netflix or Amazon Prime or Redbox or wherever you watch things.

Review: This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel

This Dark Endeavor--Kenneth Oppel

August 2011 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

298 pages--Goodreads

Victor and Konrad are the twin brothers Frankenstein. They are nearly inseparable. Growing up, their lives are filled with imaginary adventures...until the day their adventures turn all too real. They stumble upon The Dark Library, and secret books of alchemy and ancient remedies are discovered. Father forbids that they ever enter the room again, but this only piques Victor's curiosity more. When Konrad falls gravely ill, Victor is not be satisfied with the various doctors his parents have called in to help. He is drawn back to The Dark Library where he uncovers an ancient formula for the Elixir of Life. Elizabeth, Henry, and Victor immediately set out to find assistance in a man who was once known for his alchemical works to help create the formula.

Determination and the unthinkable outcome of losing his brother spur Victor on in the quest for the three ingredients that will save Konrads life. After scaling the highest trees in the Strumwald, diving into the deepest lake caves, and sacrificing one’s own body part, the three fearless friends risk their lives to save another.

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This Dark Endeavor is a prologue to Frankenstein, but you don't need to have read the original novel to enjoy this book.  I enjoyed the references here and there, such as a street named Wollstonecraft Alley (Wollstonecraft was Mary Shelly's maiden name), but they don't trip you up if you haven't read Frankenstein.  The novel does a good job of explaining Victor's drive to uncover the secrets of the human body.  He both desperately needs to save his brother's life and revels in the glory that each of his alchemical successes give him.

Victor is moody and passionate to the point of being obsessive.  He is self absorbed, over dramatic, short sighted, and compulsive.  This is accurate to his character in the original novel, but it makes him very difficult to connect with .  Don't get me wrong; he is well written. I just don't like dark, brooding, Heathcliff-like characters.  I like Henry and Konrad, but they don't get much screen time.  Elizabeth is very different in this adaptation.  In the original, she is merely an angelic but passive moral force and a strangulation victim.  In this story she is feisty and brave and stands up to Victor's nonsense, making her a much more interesting character.     

There is a love triangle, but at least it isn't one of those wiffley-waffley I-like-Boy-1-no-I-like-Boy-2 oh-I-can't-make-up-my-mind things that drive me crazy.  I still don't like that everyone is in love with Elizabeth, but at least there is no waffling back and forth.

The book has a lot of exciting escapes and daring dos, but I wasn't terribly interested in them.  I don't know if my dislike of Victor got in the way or if I just wasn't in the right mood.  However, most readers will be interested in strangely intelligent lynxes, crazy huge vulture attacks, flooding caves, amputation, and giant man eating fish.  I think it will pull in some who don't normally read.  

I wish the book had gone into more detail about the alchemy.  It's always present, but always behind a screen.  Somehow Polidori mixes up the elixir, but we don't get the step-by-step process, which I think would be interesting.  

It was fine, a decent read, but not one that compels me to continue with the series.  And I can't help but include the super chilling but spoilery ending paragraphs.  

I'd tried to save him, but I had not been smart enough, or diligent enough.

I covered my face with my hands.

And I mad an icy promise to myself.

I promised that I would see my brother again--even if it meant unlocking every secret law of this earth, to bring him back.

Review: Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Unwind--Neal Shusterman
November 2007 by Simon & Schuster
335 pages--Goodreads

Connor, Risa, and Lev are running for their lives.

The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights. The chilling resolution: Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child "unwound," whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end. Connor is too difficult for his parents to control. Risa, a ward of the state is not enough to be kept alive. And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound. Together, they may have a chance to escape and to survive.

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I have heard a ridiculous number of good things about Neal Shusterman and this series in particular.  A friend was awesome enough to let me borrow it, so I finally got to read it.  I may have built the book up too much in my mind, but I still liked it.  

Unwind is written in first-person in present tense.  I think this is the first book I've ever read in present tense.  It was a little weird at first and took a while to get used to, but it gave an immediacy to the plot: we're right there with the characters instead of watching from the sidelines looking back like we usually do.  And the unusual tense makes Shusterman's book stand apart.

The book is split between the point of view of three main characters.  With as short as the book is, we don't have enough time to explore any of them as deeply as I would have liked since our attention is so split.  Lev's story in particular needs more time and more development so we can understand why he changed; it's there, I just want more time to let it soak in.  However, the multiple perspectives give us a wider view of the situation as a whole.  We focus on the stories of individuals rather than the all of society, but we still get the big picture.  I especially like that Shusterman doesn't turn any of his characters into monsters or saints.  Each is complex, and even if we don't agree with their choices, we see where they're coming from.  

I loved the Humphrey Dunfee urban legend that came up again and again throughout the novel.  It tied things together in an unexpected but satisfying way.  I'm still a bit annoyed at myself for not making the connection to Humpty Dumpty until now.  How did I miss that?

The premise is not terribly plausible, but Shusterman makes it work, and by the end, we can see why society may have chosen to go down such a callous road.  This book deals with some hard issues that can springboard into great discussions.  What is the soul?  Are you still alive if all your physical parts are?  What does the sanctity of human life really mean?  How much choice should an individual have over their own life?  What should society do with with the people it doesn't want?  Shusterman doesn't preach, doesn't tell you what to think.  He just presents the story and lets us think it out for ourselves.  There are no clear answers, but it is the thinking that matters.  We cannot, as the novel's society does, just evade the responsibility of an unexpected baby or a troublesome teenager.

The book does contain some content that will be disturbing to some readers.  It's not graphic, but Shusterman writes in such a way that your imagination fills in the blanks in a heebee jeebees kind of way.  Aside from that, and perhaps because of it, it is a very compelling novel and a satisfying read.

P.S. Register to be an organ donor if you haven't done so already.  You won't need your liver if you're dead, and someone else does.

Halloween Book List

I am super excited for Halloween.  It's all about dressing up, eating candy, and getting scared out of your mind.  And, now that we live in a residential neighborhood instead of college apartments, we might just get trick-or-treaters.  This possibility is lessened by the fact that our landlords have started renovating their house (we live in the basement) and there is a giant hole where the driveway used to be.  No matter.  I've bought candy in preparation, and if necessary I will sit on the sidewalk with a blanket and the candy bowl.  

In honor of the upcoming holiday, here's a list of Halloween-appropriate reads.  I don't read a lot of horror, paranormal, or ghostly books, so while I know Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Rot & Ruin, Coraline and other modern Halloween reads are out there, I haven't read them and can't vouch for them.  So instead, you get a slightly classics-heavy Halloween Reading List.

Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe
This was one of my favorite books during 4th grade.  It's more on the humor end than the horror end of Halloween reads, but who doesn't love a vampire bunny?  Or trying to get rid of said vampire using raw steak?  It's only about 130 pages, so you can easily finish it while passing out candy on Halloween night, and it's a great read-aloud for younger kids who can't handle the scarier stuff.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
I, unlike everyone else including the Newbery Award committee, only moderately liked this book, but it's chock full of ghosts so I can't not include it.  Maybe Gaiman just doesn't fit my reading style or maybe I read this with the wrong mindset.  Anyways, fans of Coraline and Gaiman's other works will probably like this.  Ghosts, murder, mystery, creepiness.

"The Tell-Tale Heart" or anything else written by Edgar Allan Poe
Crazy narrator, murder, chopped up bodies, tortured soul--Poe is the king of creepy and suspense.  I love Poe's writing--I'm weird like that. I just get chills (or nightmares) at "the beating of his hideous heart!"  If gore isn't your style, try "Cask of Amontillado" instead.  Or "Pit and the Pendulum."  Or "The Raven."

Harry Potter and the Anything by J.K. Rowling
Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite Potter book, and it has a werewolf, but it is not the only Halloween-appropriate read of the series; any of the Potter books would work well.  In addition to the regular cast of witches, wizards, and ghosts, something interesting always happens on Halloween:  a troll is set loose in the dungeon, Harry attends a death-day party and someone is attacked, Sirius Black invades the castle.  It's a day that's just safer if you stay in your dormitory or even take a short vacation from Hogwarts, but where's the fun in that?

Macbeth by Shakespeare
Grisly murder, ghosts, madness, what else do you need for a good Halloween read?  You could also read Hamlet, but Macbeth is darker, more violent, and just plain creepier.  Don't have time to read the whole play?  Watch PBS's production starring Sir Patrick Stewart.  So good!  And it has the creepiest witches I have ever seen.  Ever.  Bloody witch-nun-nurse things.  Blogger won't find the Youtube clip I want to include, so here's a link to it.  Creepy nurse-nun things.

Something wicked this way comes.



What are your favorite Halloween reads?