Mini Review: Rump by Liesl Shurtliff

Rump: The True Story of Rumplestiltskin--Liesl Shurtliff
April 2013 by Alfred A Knopf Books for Young Readers
272 pages--Goodreads

In a magic kingdom where your name is your destiny, 12-year-old Rump is the butt of everyone's joke. But when he finds an old spinning wheel, his luck seems to change. Rump discovers he has a gift for spinning straw into gold. His best friend, Red Riding Hood, warns him that magic is dangerous, and she’s right. With each thread he spins, he weaves himself deeper into a curse.

To break the spell, Rump must go on a perilous quest, fighting off pixies, trolls, poison apples, and a wickedly foolish queen. The odds are against him, but with courage and friendship—and a cheeky sense of humor—he just might triumph in the end.

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Rump was a cute and funny read. I enjoyed the tie-ins to other fairy tales. It was a bit too simple for me. There is some MAJOR scooby-doo-ing/villain-monologue-ing near the end of the book. And the major twist is based on Rump's real name being Rumplestiltskin, which we all know going into the story (thank you cover picture), so we all knew what was going to happen. The foreshadowing for this unsurprising twist wouldn't bother a younger audience, but it made Rump's constant worry about his name a bit tedious for me.

As a bonus, the audiobook was read by Maxwell Glick aka THE Mr. Collins of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, so that was awesome. Although, Glick used a sort of storytelling narration style that didn't quite fit with a first-person narrative, I still enjoyed listening to him read.  Cue the nostalgia.

Rump:  The True Story of Rumplestiltskin is a good quick read or bedtime story for young readers. 

P.S.--Small bone to pick with the cover:  Why is Red's hair not red?

Review: Cress by Marissa Meyer

Cress--Marissa Meyer
February 2014 by Feiwel & Friends
560 pages--Goodreads

Rapunzel’s tower is a satellite. She can’t let down her hair—or her guard.

In this third book in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder and Captain Thorne are fugitives on the run, with Scarlet and Wolf in tow. Together, they’re plotting to overthrow Queen Levana and her army.

Their best hope lies with Cress, who has been trapped on a satellite since childhood with only her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker—unfortunately, she’s just received orders from Levana to track down Cinder and her handsome accomplice.

When a daring rescue goes awry, the group is separated. Cress finally has her freedom, but it comes at a high price. Meanwhile, Queen Levana will let nothing stop her marriage to Emperor Kai. Cress, Scarlet, and Cinder may not have signed up to save the world, but they may be the only ones who can.

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After almost a year's wait since reading Scarlet, Cress is finally out.  Huzzah!  It's a long one, but it's never slow.  There's always some rescue to pull off or some danger to avoid or some scheme to execute.

However, Meyer stretches herself too thin with all these characters.  I do enjoy seeing from each character's point of view, and POV switches are sometimes necessary to tell the story from its multiple locations.  But switching between  ten different characters is just too much.  At the same time, the characters are the best part, and I wouldn't have her cut any of them out.  I just wish we could see more of Cinder.

I really like where Meyer is taking Levana's character.  Rather than being evil for the sake of being evil, we get just a hint that her motivation is loneliness.  If her people will not love her on their own terms, she will make them love her; and she will conquer Earth so that more people will love her.  I hope Meyer expands this angle of Levana's character in the next book.  It makes her much more compelling than the generic evil queen.

I love how vulnerable Cinder is in this book.  Not to say she can't hold her own in a fight (she can) or that she's an emotional wreck (she's not).  She's just freaked out about the pressure of having to save the entire world (and moon).  She's scared and worried that she won't be able to do it.  She feels guilty for the deaths she's caused.  It's so nice to have a character who reacts normally to the saving the world situation rather than being completely confident or even just mildly worried.

My only major criticism, aside from the multiple perspectives, is that there isn't much chemistry between Thorne and Cress.  Wolf and Scarlet's relationship (while too sudden and cheesy) at least had chemistry.  I can see them going somewhere in the next book, but I don't root for them as I read like I am Cinder and Kai.

Cress is not a perfect novel, but it is a fun, fast-paced one.  Now I just have to sit here and wait for a year until Winter comes out.  

Review: Across a Star-Swept Sea by Diana Peterfreund

Across a Star-Swept Sea--Diana Peterfreund
October 2013 by Balzer +  Bray
464 pages--Goodreads

Centuries after wars nearly destroyed civilization, the two islands of New Pacifica stand alone, a terraformed paradise where even the Reduction—the devastating brain disorder that sparked the wars—is a distant memory. Yet on the isle of Galatea, an uprising against the ruling aristocrats has turned deadly. The revolutionaries’ weapon is a drug that damages their enemies’ brains, and the only hope is rescue by a mysterious spy known as the Wild Poppy.

On the neighboring island of Albion, no one suspects that the Wild Poppy is actually famously frivolous aristocrat Persis Blake. The teenager uses her shallow, socialite trappings to hide her true purpose: her gossipy flutternotes are encrypted plans, her pampered sea mink is genetically engineered for spying, and her well-publicized new romance with handsome Galatean medic Justen Helo… is her most dangerous mission ever.

Though Persis is falling for Justen, she can’t risk showing him her true self, especially once she learns he’s hiding far more than simply his disenchantment with his country’s revolution and his undeniable attraction to the silly socialite he’s pretending to love. His darkest secret could plunge both islands into a new dark age, and Persis realizes that when it comes to Justen Helo, she’s not only risking her heart, she’s risking the world she’s sworn to protect.

In this thrilling adventure inspired by The Scarlet Pimpernel, Diana Peterfreund creates an exquisitely rendered world where nothing is as it seems and two teens with very different pasts fight for a future only they dare to imagine.

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I am so impressed by this novel.  After being a bit disappointed by For Darkness Shows the Stars, I was worried that Across a Star-Swept Sea would follow suit.  No worries!  It takes everything that For Darkness did right and builds on it.

First, the setting is perfect.  It's an excellent adaptation of the source material.  Peterfreund takes the class system of the first book and fits it to the framework of the French revolution.  The the reduction was cured a few centuries ago, but there is still class tension between the aristos and regs.  In Galatea those tensions erupt into a Reign of Terror with people being reduced rather than guillotined.  Fervor blinds the revolutionaries to the cruelty of their actions until they care only for revenge against the aristos and those who support them for all their crimes and their fathers' crimes and their fathers' fathers' crimes.  In Albion things are more stable, but those tensions still exist.  Some aristos are fair stewards; others are not.  And whispers of revolution from discontented regs threaten destabilize a regency government.

And the fact that Justen invented the reduction drug (albeit by accident) is a great adaptation of Marguerite's accidental betrayal in the original.  Basically, I just love good adaptations.  The ones that bring out the most important parts of the original and adapting those conflicts into a new setting.  The ones that stay true to the core of the characters while bringing out something new and interesting about them.

In that light, Persis is so annoying, and I mean that in the best possible way.  Her disguise requires her to act in a manner WAY below her intellect.  It drove me crazy how she had to hold back her complicated opinions about politics, gender relations, and social equality.  I hated every time Justen thought of her as a spoiled idiot.  It is so perfect for this story and the tension it needs.  I was a bit worried about this aspect of the adaptation--there is a big difference between a fop and a shallow socialite woman--but Peterfreund pulls it off masterfully, causing even Justen, the oh-so-enlightend, to question his gender assumption.

I know it wouldn't fit the story, but I wish we could see more of Persis' parents.  Dealing with an Alzheimer's-like condition would be both a fascinating, though tragic, plot line.  Persis, understandably, wants to ignore what was happening to her mother, but I want to see more exploration of that situation.

I only have a couple of complaints.  First, the multiple perspectives get a bit confusing at times.  For the story Peterfreund is telling, we do need to see from multiple characters' perspectives, but there isn't quite enough cuing as to when we switch perspectives.  I don't need a label slapped on each section, but it needs to be clear in the first sentence who's talking.  Sometimes it takes nearly a paragraph before we know who is narrating.

Second, I know most people were excited to see them again, but Elliot, Kai, and the rest of their group feel out of place in this story. There would have been better ways to lure the Poppy into a trap (for example, Remy getting captured) without pulling these characters in so late in the game.  And then the ending itself is just a bit too sudden.  Minor qualms, but still.

Across a Star-Swept Sea is excellent, both as its own story and as as a retelling of The Scarlet Pimpernel.  I need to go rewatch the movie now.  If you haven't read For Darkness, don't let that stop you from reading Across a Star-Swept Sea.  It's more of a companion novel than a sequel and can stand on its own.

Review: Scarlet by A. C. Gaughen

Scarlet--A. C. Gaughen
February 2012 by Walker Children's
292 pages--Goodreads

Posing as one of Robin Hood’s thieves to avoid the wrath of the evil Thief Taker Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only the Hood and his band know the truth: the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. Helping the people of Nottingham outwit the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham could cost Scarlet her life as Gisbourne closes in.

It’s only her fierce loyalty to Robin—whose quick smiles and sharp temper have the rare power to unsettle her—that keeps Scarlet going and makes this fight worth dying for.

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Aaarg!!  This book was such a disappointment.  I wanted Scarlet to be an awesome adventure about the girl hiding in plain sight among the Merry Men.  I wanted to know where she came from and why she was hiding from Gisbourne and how she got so good at knife throwing and why she dressed up like a man and why she joined Robin's group and how she hid her identity from the world.  Basically I wanted an Alanna-esque character inserted into the Robin Hood mythology.

Of all the stories that didn't need a stupid, stupid love triangle!  This could have been such a good book with knife throwing and daring escapes and hangings.  But instead, we spent the whole book listening to Robin, John, and Scarlet angst about who would get together with whom, completely ignoring the more important and deadly things going on.  Yes, Alanna had a love triangle too, but the adventure and the fate of the kingdom always came first.  The external plot or internal non-romantic conflict in a novel will always be more interesting to me than romantic angst.

And the best part of the awful unnecessary romance:  Robin, who never said a word to John about sleeping around, calls Scarlet a "whore" for accepting a little comfort in a moment when she is scared and injured and in shock.  And his reason for doing this?  "Hurting you is the best way I know to punish myself."  What kind of messed up crap is that?!  That statement is so close to justification for domestic abuse, I can't believe it made the final cut into the novel.  We'll just log it away with Carosel's If-he loves-you-it-doesn't-hurt-when-he-hits-you message.

The slightly less annoying or unsettling problems in the novel include:

• The trust timeline was unrealistic.  Scarlet had been working with Robin and company for almost two years before the book gets started, and she didn't trust them at all.  Then, once we finish the first few chapters, she suddenly trusts them.  Because reasons.
• Robin needs to be an adult.  Otherwise, the myth loses a lot of its significance.  Robin has to be a man when he returns from the crusades to find his lands seized and his people starving.  You can't blame a mere boy for letting his people down, but Robin the man has to accept that responsibility.  If you're going to make Robin a teenager, you better have a very good reason for doing it, and angst is not a good enough reason.

Scarlet was so disappointing, and yet frustratingly addictive.  I couldn't stop reading, even though I didn't like it.  This book sullies the good name of Scarlet.  Go read a good Scarlet instead where Marissa Meyer proves that a romantic sub plot can enhance rather than completely derail the main plot.

Review: The Princess Curse by Merrie Haskell

The Princess Curse--Merrie Haskell
September 2011 by Harper Collins
328 pages--Goodreads

In the fifteenth-century kingdom of Sylvania, the prince offers a fabulous reward to anyone who cures the curse that forces the princesses to spend each night dancing to the point of exhaustion. Everyone who tries disappears or falls into an enchanted sleep.

Thirteen-year-old Reveka, a smart, courageous herbalist’s apprentice, decides to attempt to break the curse despite the danger. Unravelling the mystery behind the curse leads Reveka to the Underworld, and to save the princesses, Reveka will have to risk her soul.

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The Princess Curse mashes-up  "The 12 Dancing Princesses," "Beauty and the Beast," and "Hades and Persephone" while also telling its own story.  Reveka is an awesome protagonist (even though I'm not entirely sure how to pronounce her name).  Her snarky disrespect is rather funny.  She's likable without being perfect and flawed without being infuriating.  She's practical and capable and just fun to read about.

Some readers have an issue with Reveka's goal of entering a convent, but during the middle ages, convents were on of the few places people could dedicate their lives to something other than just working really hard to stay alive.  A convent would be the only place she could become a master herbalist.  Also, I love how Reveka uses herbology (**SPOILER** and awesome underworld powers) to save the day.   

I wish we could have seen more of the underworld.  And dragons.  The fact that dragons were in this book needed to be more heavily advertised. 

The Princess Curse is a quick, enjoyable, curl up on the couch with cocoa read.  It left me longing for more (sequel? hopefully? write it please!).  This makes the second Christmas in a row I've read a fairy tale retelling.  TRADITION!!!!!!!!

Review: Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale

Palace of Stone--Shannon Hale
August 2012 by Bloomsbury USA
323 pages--Goodreads

Coming down from the mountain to a new life in the city is a thrill to Miri. She and her princess academy friends have been brought to Asland to help the future princess Britta prepare for her wedding.There, Miri also has a chance to attend school-at the Queen's Castle. But as Miri befriends students who seem sophisticated and exciting she also learns that they have some frightening plans. Torn between loyalty to the princess and her new friends' ideas, between an old love and a new crush, and between her small mountain home and the bustling city, Miri looks to find her own way in this new place.

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When I heard that Shannon Hale was publishing Palace of Stone, my first thought was "No; Princess Academy's story is complete.  It does not need a sequel.  A sequel would diminish the story that already exists."  I still hold that position, but Palace of Stone isn't a sequel, weird as that sounds.  Yes, it takes place in the same world with the same characters, but it's not a sequel.  Rather than stretching the Mount Eskel story beyond what it has material for, Palace of Stone is its own story.  Hale explores new situations and new locations while holding onto the characters and spirit we love from the first book.

The political situation is excellently crafted.  Hale poses complicated situations that I think her younger readers will miss the nuances of, but I love them.  We Americans tend to be a overly gung-ho in support of revolutions, but Hale asks the hard questions.  Is it better to support the stability of a bad ruler while some people starve, or to incite rebellion which may improve things or may lead to complete anarchy and widespread starvation and violence?  This part of the plot is wrapped up a bit too easily and neatly, but Miri faces the issue's complexity enough that I'll take it.

Hale even makes a love triangle work!  This is no "Team Edward/Team Jacob" clone thrown in to garner sales from angsty teenage girls or to cover up lack of substance elsewhere in the plot. The triangle is used more as an external representation of Miri's torn allegiance between the familiarity of home and the excitement of new experiences in Asland, which is a much more interesting tension than a romantic one.

I love the characters; I love the world; I love the plot;  I love Hale's writing style.  Palace of Stone was exactly what I needed after a massive disappointment from a different book.

Review: Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Enchanted--Alethea Kontis
May 2012 by Harcourt's Children's Books
308 pages--Goodreads

It isn't easy being the rather overlooked and unhappy youngest sibling to sisters named for the other six days of the week. Sunday’s only comfort is writing stories, although what she writes has a terrible tendency to come true.

When Sunday meets an enchanted frog who asks about her stories, the two become friends. Soon that friendship deepens into something magical. One night Sunday kisses her frog goodbye and leaves, not realizing that her love has transformed him back into Rumbold, the crown prince of Arilland—and a man Sunday’s family despises.

The prince returns to his castle, intent on making Sunday fall in love with him as the man he is, not the frog he was. But Sunday is not so easy to woo. How can she feel such a strange, strong attraction for this prince she barely knows? And what twisted secrets lie hidden in his past - and hers?

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I loved all the references to well known and less known fairy tales, but Enchanted  wasn't as strong a retelling as I had hoped.  

First, there was the instalove.  It just didn't work, even for a fairy tale.  Retellings are a way to explore things that are skimmed over in the original tale, particularly the romance.  For me, retellings have to expand on the romance and have the characters more realistically fall in love over a longer span of time, at least a little bit.  Instead, Sunday kept love-at-first-sighting.  And she just wasn't smart in some scenes.  Really, Sunday.  You wake up in a dress that is not yours in a place you've never been before in the arms of a man who was not there when you passed out, and you're not at all worried?  Not even a little bit?  Not even when you first wake up before you get your bearings and realize it's the prince?  Really?  Come on!  You should freak out at least a little bit.  And Rumbold, you took too many liberties in that scene.

That wasn't the only aspect of the story that wasn't fully developed.  The climax was rushed.  So many fairy tales were pushed into that one scene that I wasn't sure exactly what was going on.  And why was the family suddenly okay with Wednesday and Sunday involving themselves with the royal family?  Weren't they supposed to hate them?  

I did like the scene where Sunday and her father swapped stories.  Honestly, Papa needed to be a bigger part of the story.  Familial relationships are sadly neglected in these types of stories.  I would have loved to see more of the father-daughter relationship.  And there should have been more Saturday.

In the end, I think Enchanted's biggest problem was trying to tell to much story in not enough time.  It wasn't the retelling for me.

Why Sandition Was Not as Good as LBD

I loved the Lizzie Bennet Diaries.  Like many of you, I sat in eager anticipation for each new episode and then watched the episode multiple times, squeeing and over-analyzing each move the characters made.  I supported the crew in the Kickstarter and was super excited when they announced they would run a miniseries of Austen's Sanditon this summer.  I hadn't read Sanditon, but I trusted the team to do as good a job with it as they did with LBD.

And then they didn't.

Don't get me wrong, I still love Pemberly Digital, I am watching Emma Approved, and Sanditon wasn't awful.  It just wasn't as good as LBD was.  And here are the two main ways where Sanditon went wrong.

1.  They chose an unknown, unfinished Austen novel as their source material.

I know that a lot of people who hadn't read Pride and Prejudice or seen the movies watched and loved LBD.  However, there is a wide cultural understanding of the general plot of Pride and Prejudice.  Even if you have never read the book or seen the movies, you know it's about guy and girl who hate each other and then fall in love.

Sanditon does not have that same cultural presence.  Because Austen died before she completed the novel, most people have not read it.  Even after seeing Welcome to Sanditon and reading the summary of the novel on Wikipedia, I still don't know what the story is about.  With LBD you knew Lizzie and Darcy would get together in the end; the question was how.  With Sanditon, I couldn't figure out what was supposed to be happening, and I'm still not entirely sure.  What was our end-goal supposed to be beyond Clara and Edward getting together?  Were we ever supposed to resolve Tom's hijacking and re-branding of the town's businesses in a false sense of progress?  Was Clara supposed to have a story arc?  She didn't change like Elizabeth, Anne, Emma, and Elinor did throughout their novels.

And what was with the the spin gym side story?  It was introduced during the last third of the series and then didn't go anywhere.  You don't introduce things that late in the game.  Or if you do, it better be important.  But it wasn't.  It created a negligible amount of romantic tension and then...nothing. 

2.  They sacrificed core content for filler content, specifically the fan videos.

Don't get me wrong, I love the community that sprung up around LBD.  I love that we swapped theories in the comments and created gifs and wrote reaction posts and experienced LBD together.  However, these fan reactions should never take prescient over the professionally written content.  I don't subscribe to see four minutes of fan videos every week.  These videos didn't move the plot along at all.  At least in LBD when we had filler episodes, we got to know the characters better.  The Sanditon fan videos, not so much.  

A better way to do "filler" episodes was Clara's ice cream videos.  Even though they didn't move the plot forward much, we got to know Clara.  

I don't know if Pemberly Digital was just trying to stretch out the series to make it last longer because Emma Approved got delayed or what, but I would have preferred a shorter, fan-video-less series.  I think the community is great and the fans are great, but we are not the central content.  The story is.

I did like Tom and Ed and Clara.  I loved the late night conversation between Clara and Ed.  I loved seeing more of Gigi and her growth as a character beyond her brother's expectations.  Pemberly Digital made some big mistakes with Sanditon, but I think they learned from those mistakes and will avoid them with Emma Approved.  I'm excited to see where this new series will go.

Vlog Adaptations of Classics

As you can probably tell from some of my posts this spring (1, 2, 3), I love the Lizzie Bennet Diaries.  I'm a huge Austen-ite.  I've read her books and seen the movie adaptations more times than is probably healthy.  I thought I knew the story of Pride and Prejudice, but The Lizzie Bennet Diaries took the story in a whole-new-while-still-true-to-the-book direction.  The writers brought a depth to Lydia's character that I didn't know was there.  It is a fantastic adaptation that totally deserves the Emmy it won, and I'm sad that it's over.  However, while LBD may have reached an end, it has inspired a bunch of new vlog adaptations of other classic novels.  I prove my English nerdiness by freaking out every time a new episode comes up in my subscription feed, which is pretty much every day considering how many adaptations I'm following.  Today I am sharing these adaptations with you.  

The Autobiography of Jane Eyre--episodes on Wednesdays and Saturdays

This is probably my favorite adaption.  The actress is Jane.  She totally channels Jane's contemplative seriousness without being gloomy about it.  This Wednesday's episode was the best so far.  Meanwhile, Rochester is a rude, inconsiderate, jerk.  This is more a problem with the source material than the adaptation.  Rochester is supposed to be that way, but it's more problematic in a modern setting than it was in the 1800s.  So far the writers have kept him true to character without making him too easy to hate.  However, I don't see how they're going to deal with some of the issues later in the book.  

For example:  Bertha.  Today's mental health care is words better than what was available in the 1800s.  Back then, it was merciful for Rochester to keep Bertha in his attic where she would be well cared for and comfortable rather than banishing her to an asylum where she would be, at best, horribly neglected.  But modern Rochester could easily find quality care for a crazy wife.  This makes me think that Bertha's not going to be crazy, but then what will the insurmountable Bertha problem be? 

An even bigger adaptation challenge is Jane's flight from Thornfeild.  People can't disappear anymore, not in our internet-saturated world.  But she has to do so without losing viewers.  Jane can't go internet silent, because viewers would get bored and we'd miss all the St. John story and we can't miss that.  If she changed to a new channel, she'd lose the viewers who would miss the memo and Rochester could still track her down.  I can't figure out how they're going to make this work, but I can't wait to see how they do it.

Nick Carroway Chronicles--episodes on Mondays 

I think The Great Gatsby is one of the classic novels that most naturally translates to vlog form since the book is basically Nick telling us what happens to other people.  He's a built in narrator.  Since there is only one episode per week, we're still at the very beginning of the story and have hardly seen Gatsby, but I'm liking it so far.  Also,I love Jordan.  She's hilarious.  I don't even know how to describe her.  She's not goofy, just funny.  This series deserves way more attention than it's gotten.  

Emma Approved--episodes on Mondays and Thursdays

This series comes from the same team that made The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Sanditon (Sanditon has its own post here).  Emma Approved just premiered on Monday, so it's way too early to judge whether this will be as good an adaptation as LBD, but so far it looks promising.  Emma's characterization is perfect.  She's confident to a fault.  She thinks she reads people better than she does.  She's self centered and falsely concerned about other people.  She's so Emma Woodhousey.  I was unduly excited about this when it premiered on Monday.  

Also, does anyone else think Alex Knightly is very Edward Denhem-like?  His voice and personality seem very similar.

The Emma Project--episodes on Tuesdays and Saturdays

I discovered this one just the other day.  It will be interesting to watch this series and Emma Approved at the same time.  They've done a good job of setting up the class distinction with the college seniority and Emma would totally be a psychology major.  I love that Robbie Martin is a farmer going to to community college; we totally get why Emma would think Harriet is above marrying someone like that as well as why Emma a jerk for thinking that.  And we've started seeing more of Emma influencing Harriet in her decisions.

However, The Emma Project doesn't have the same professional feeling that the other adaptations have.  I'm not talking about lighting and sound.  I can ignore that.  I mean that instead of coming across as Emma the character telling us about her life, it feels like an actress reciting memorized lines, so it doesn't feel as real.  They also seem to be rushing through the story rather than taking time to establish the characters.  I'm still interested in it, but it's not the best adaptation I've found.

Notes by Christine--episodes on Tuesdays and Fridays

I found Notes by Christine just today.  I like it so far, but I haven't had time to see how well I like it.  They're taking a risk by having episodes that are just Christine singing opera music.  It's true to character and the story of Phantom of the Opera (book not musical), but it doesn't move the plot forward at all.  So it'll be interesting to see whether or not Youtube audiences latch onto it.  Also, the opera ghost has his own channel where he, without showing his face, offers Christine private lessons.  So that's creepy.  It'll be interesting to see where they take this story.  They could really play up the creepy stalker aspect by making him an internet predator.  We'll see. 

Anyways, go check out these series for yourself and let me know what you think.    Also, are there more vlog adaptations of classic novels out there that I missed?  I must find them all!  

Review: William Shakespeare's Star Wars by Ian Doescher

William Shakespeare's Star Wars by Ian Doescher
July 2013 by Quirk Books
176 pages--Goodreads

Inspired by one of the greatest creative minds in the English language-and William Shakespeare-here is an officially licensed retelling of George Lucas's epic Star Wars in the style of the immortal Bard of Avon. The saga of a wise (Jedi) knight and an evil (Sith) lord, of a beautiful princess held captive and a young hero coming of age, Star Wars abounds with all the valor and villainy of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. ’Tis a tale told by fretful droids, full of faithful Wookiees and fearstome Stormtroopers, signifying...pretty much everything.

Reimagined in glorious iambic pentameter—and complete with twenty gorgeous Elizabethan illustrations--William Shakespeare’s Star Wars will astound and edify Rebels and Imperials alike. Zounds! This is the book you’re looking for.

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To like this book, you need to be both a Shakespeare nerd and a Star Wars geek.  Being a fan of both, William Shakespeare's Star Wars was hilarious.  Doescher does an excellent job of re-scripting the story in Elizabethan English in a humorous rather than stuffy way.  The asides and soliloquies are great and the iambic pentameter never feels forced.  Doescher also weaves in quotes from Shakespeare here and there, my favorite being when Luke starts reciting the Saint Crispin's Day speech to inspire the rebels.

The action sequences are a bit boring to read since the Chorus just gives us a play by play, but there's no other way to make that work in the context of a play.  Shakespeare didn't give stage directions, so we need a character of the Chorus to say what happens.

William Shakespeare's Star Wars is a goofy sounding combination that hits the mark.  It's a loving parody of both source materials.  I'm looking forward to The Empire Striketh Back.

Mini Review: Sweetly by Jackson Pearce

Sweetly--Jackson Pearce
August 2011 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
310 pages--Goodreads

As a child, Gretchen's twin sister was taken by a witch in the woods. Ever since, Gretchen and her brother, Ansel, have felt the long branches of the witch's forest threatening to make them disappear, too.

Years later, when their stepmother casts Gretchen and Ansel out, they find themselves in sleepy Live Oak, South Carolina. They're invited to stay with Sophia Kelly, a beautiful candy maker who molds sugary magic: coveted treats that create confidence, bravery, and passion.

Life seems idyllic and Gretchen and Ansel gradually forget their haunted past -- until Gretchen meets handsome local outcast Samuel. He tells her the witch isn't gone -- it's lurking in the forest, preying on girls every year after Live Oak's infamous chocolate festival, and looking to make Gretchen its next victim. Gretchen is determined to stop running and start fighting back. Yet the further she investigates the mystery of what the witch is and how it chooses its victims, the more she wonders who the real monster is.

Gretchen is certain of only one thing: a monster is coming, and it will never go away hungry.

---

Sweetly is a slow paced novel, but it drew me in and wouldn't let me go, so I finished it in two days.  It's a compelling read. Each of the characters has depth, but I particularly like Gretchen's development.  The angle Pearce takes on the villain is also interesting.  Not something I expected, but something I'm still thinking about.  I like Pearce's writing.  She keeps that slowly growing unease feeling going the whole time and some parts just sent chills up my spine, particularly the prologue.  And so many different kinds of chocolate described in such detail I could practically taste them.

Sweetly is by no means flawless.  The Samuel romance thing felt a bit unnecessary, and how did Gretchen become such a marksman over the course of a week?  But I'm willing to forgive those things for the rest of the book.  And the cover is so wonderfully creepy.  I will definitely have to read Sisters Red and Fathomless (which happens to be on sale this month for Kindles).

Mini Review: The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle by Christopher Healy

The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle--Christopher Healy
April 2013 by Walden Pond Press
477 pages--Goodreads

Prince Liam. Prince Frederic. Prince Duncan. Prince Gustav. You remember them, don't you? They're the Princes Charming who finally got some credit after they stepped out of the shadows of their princesses - Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White, and Briar Rose - to defeat an evil witch bent on destroying all their kingdoms.

But alas, such fame and recognition only last so long. And when the princes discover that an object of great power might fall into any number of wrong hands, they are going to have to once again band together to stop it from happening - even if no one will ever know it was they who did it.

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I won a copy of The Hero's Guide to Storming the Castle in a giveaway from Walden Pond Press.  Thank you, thank you thank you.  This book is a lot of fun.

The characters reverte back to where they were at the beginning of the first book.  Frederick goes back to being a scardy-cat.  Liam loses his confidence.  Etc.  They do grow again, but I don't want them to start over at the beginning of each new book.  They could have kept their distinct personalities without losing all the progress they made in the first book.

I like the growth from Briar Rose.  In the first book, she was just a spoiled brat.  Now, she's starting to show that all she really wants is friendship; she just doesn't realize it yet.  I see a lot of potential for her in future books.  Lila is still the best.  I want a side book just about her adventures with Ruffian during her bounty hunter training.  Troll is even funnier this time around.  I love Gustav's nicknames for everyone, particularly Tassels for Frederick.

This series is just a whole lot of fun.  Clever in some places, like the henchman Redshirt who is thrown out a window a couple paragraphs after we meet him.  I can't wait for the next installment.  And we'll finish off the review with a couple more quotes, just for fun.

"The element of surprise can offer a hero great advantage in battle. The element of oxygen - also important."

"Some people say Rundark was born out of a mad alchemist's attempt to distill the essence of pure evil. others clam he emerged fully grown from an erupting volcano. although it's also possible that he was the son of a used cart salesman from Nebbish Villiage--they didn't keep very good records in Dar."

Mini Review: The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom--Christopher Healy
May 2012 by Walden Pond Press
419 pages--Goodreads

Prince Liam. Prince Frederic. Prince Duncan. Prince Gustav. You’ve never heard of them, have you? These are the princes who saved Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel, respectively, and yet, thanks to those lousy bards who wrote the tales, you likely know them only as Prince Charming. But all of this is about to change.

Rejected by their princesses and cast out of their castles, the princes stumble upon an evil plot that could endanger each of their kingdoms. Now it’s up to them to triumph over their various shortcomings, take on trolls, bandits, dragons, witches, and other assorted terrors, and become the heroes no one ever thought they could be.

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The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom is just a fun book.  It's a bit cheesy, but it's funny and cute.  It's a zany sort of slapstick adventure with some word play thrown in.  Saving Your Kingdom is long for a middle grade novel, but it clips along at a quick pace.  The characters are just great.  They're a bit one dimensional, but there's enough characters that you get a lot of variety.  Ella the adventurous, Frederick the timid, Lila the awesome.  Troll is a lot of fun, and I love Gustav's direct bullheadedness.

I don't have much else to say, so I'll just finish with some of my favorite quotes.

"Neville and Horace stopped and eyed them smugly through the bars.  Eyeing smugly was something the pair excelled in.  They'd actually shared the title of Best Smug Eyers in their graduating class at bandit school."

"The rooftop level of the Bandit King's castle had been constructed as a convenient spot from which the robbers could spill boiling oil down onto anyone who tried to break into their headquarters, but it also served as a nice place to have duels, and occasionally, to sunbathe." 

"This was not Liam's finest hour.  The frustrations of the past several days had been slowly eating away at him and muddying his mind.  On a normal day, had Liam been confronted by a fire-breathing dragon, he would have come up with a brilliant tactic for defeating the beast.  He would have lured the dragon into a tight spot to trap it, or maybe found some clever way to make the huge chandelier overhead fall down onto the monster.  But this day?  This day he decided to kick the beast in the tail and yell, 'Take that, dumb dragon!'
"The dragon, as you might suspect, was not impressed." 

"On still another road, a green-haired man wobbled by on peppermint-stick stilts, a fiery-plumed bird of paradise perched on his shoulder.  But he's not in this story, so don't pay any attention to him." 

Review: Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson

Strands of Bronze and Gold--Jane Nickerson
March 2013 by Random House Children's Books
352 pages--Goodreads

The Bluebeard fairy tale retold. . . .

When seventeen-year-old Sophia Petheram’s beloved father dies, she receives an unexpected letter. An invitation—on fine ivory paper, in bold black handwriting—from the mysterious Monsieur Bernard de Cressac, her godfather. With no money and fewer options, Sophie accepts, leaving her humble childhood home for the astonishingly lavish Wyndriven Abbey, in the heart of Mississippi.

Sophie has always longed for a comfortable life, and she finds herself both attracted to and shocked by the charm and easy manners of her overgenerous guardian. But as she begins to piece together the mystery of his past, it’s as if, thread by thread, a silken net is tightening around her. And as she gathers stories and catches whispers of his former wives—all with hair as red as her own—in the forgotten corners of the abbey, Sophie knows she’s trapped in the passion and danger of de Cressac’s intoxicating world.

Glowing strands of romance, mystery, and suspense are woven into this breathtaking debut—a thrilling retelling of the “Bluebeard” fairy tale.

---

If you're not already familiar with this book or the Bluebeard fairytale, this review will be a bit spoilery.   The story is excellently creepy, but is even creepier if you don't know what to expect.  You have been warned; read on at your own peril.

Strands of Bronze and Gold is no horror or thriller novel.  It is a slow burn, but the gradual  reveal of Monsieur Bernard's true self is excellently written.  He's perfectly charming, then he makes us a bit uneasy, then a few things are out of place but mostly okay, then it's worse, then it's just wrong, but by then there's no escape and I'm sitting on the couch almost feeling nauseous about how bad things have gotten.  

Nickerson writes an abusive relationship very well.  From almost the first chapter almost every warning flag I'm aware of begins popping up.  Bernard isolates Sophia from her loved ones.  He makes her feel indebted to him.  He makes her financially dependent on him.  He lashes out and then apologizes.  He threatens to harm her family if she leaves.  She at first rationalizes his behavior then sees no way of escape.  The emotional, psychological, and eventually physical abuse is so well written, it is almost painful to read.  After finishing the novel, I was emotionally drained.  Abuse is not something I particularly enjoy reading about, but it needs to be talked about.  Bravo to Nickerson for such a good portrayal.  

One thing that did bug me about the abuse was at the end of the novel Sophie explains Bernard's abusive behavior by saying he must have been mentally unstable.  I agree that something has gone very wrong in the minds of abusers, but it can't always be excused by mental illness.  A lot of it, especially for Monsieur Bernard, is a culture of domination and absolute power.  Most abusers aren't born broken; they are raised to abuse.

I love how Nickerson wove slavery and the Southern setting into the fairy tale.  Bernard has had complete control over other people all his life.  He dehumanizes them to justify his treatment of them.  These behaviors and justifications then translate to his treatment of Sophie.  Make no mistake though, this is not a book about slavery.  It does not examine racism or racial privilege.  And that's okay with me.  I don't think every book involving a black character has to be a philosophical examining of all the sociocultural implications.  This is Sophie's and Bernard's story and no one else's.  

Nickerson does use a bit of deus ex machina to resolve the climax.  I know the devise is set up early on and alluded to several times throughout the novel, but it still feels like a too convenient and coincidental solution..

I can't say Strands of Bronze and Gold was a delight to read, because abuse is never enjoyable to read about.  But it was well written and an excellent novel.  A slow burning Southern gothic with painfully creepy undertones.  And the cover is shiny.  

Review: Calamity Jack by Shannon and Dean Hale

Calamity Jack--Shannon and Dean Hale
Illustrated by Nathan Hale
January 2010 by Bloomsbury USA Children's
144 pages--Goodreads

Jack likes to think of himself as a criminal mastermind…with an unfortunate amount of bad luck. A schemer, plotter, planner, trickster, swindler...maybe even thief? One fine day Jack picks a target a little more giant than the usual, and one little bean turns into a great big building-destroying beanstalk.

With help from Rapunzel (and her trusty braids), a pixie from Jack’s past, and a man with inventions from the future, they just might out-swindle the evil giants and put his beloved city back in the hands of good people ....while catapulting themselves and readers into another fantastical adventure.

---

I really enjoyed Rapunzel's Revenge.  While Calamity Jack isn't as great, it is still a lot of fun.  This is Jack's story and it's not a western, so there's a lot less of Rapunzel's spunky attitude and hair lassoing.  The steampunk aspect is neat, but the western vibe fit so well to the first book.  That perfect-fit feeling is missing in this book.  More lassoing may not fix that problem, but it would make me feel better. 

There is a cast of quirky characters, as always.  But in this book, Jack's character doesn't really go anywhere. Instead of going from lovable scoundrel to honest lovable scoundrel, he spends most of the book worrying about what will happen if Rapunzel finds out he was once a crook.  Rapunzel doesn't do much either.  I loved her no nonsense. round-up-the-bad-guys attitude in the first book, but in this, she's just a side character. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that more hair lassoing would improve this book, even though it's supposed to be Jack's story.

The illustrations are as detailed and interesting as the first book.  The jabberwocky and bandersnatch are nice touches.  Calamity Jack is a fun, quick followup to Hale's first graphic novel.

Review: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer

Scarlet--Marissa Meyer
February 2013 by Feiwel and Friends
452 pages--Goodreads

The fates of Cinder and Scarlet collide as a Lunar threat spreads across the Earth...

Cinder, the cyborg mechanic, returns in the second thrilling installment of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles. She's trying to break out of prison—even though if she succeeds, she'll be the Commonwealth's most wanted fugitive.

Halfway around the world, Scarlet Benoit's grandmother is missing. It turns out there are many things Scarlet doesn't know about her grandmother or the grave danger she has lived in her whole life. When Scarlet encounters Wolf, a street fighter who may have information as to her grandmother's whereabouts, she is loath to trust this stranger, but is inexplicably drawn to him, and he to her. As Scarlet and Wolf unravel one mystery, they encounter another when they meet Cinder. Now, all of them must stay one step ahead of the vicious Lunar Queen Levana, who will do anything for the handsome Prince Kai to become her husband, her king, her prisoner.

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Last year, I saw so many 5-star, rave reviews about Cinder, that when I finally did read it, it was killed by the Hype Monster.  It couldn't live up to the reputation i had built up of it in my mind.  I went into Scarlet with more normal expectations, and this time around I quite enjoyed the read. Now freed from the hype, I can appreciate all of Cinder's awesomeness.  Scarlet is cool too, but Cinder is great.   I love all of her cyborg gadgets.  And as her lunar gift emerges, she has to deal with the ethical implications of her ability to manipulate people with her mind.  

While Cinder and Scarlet take center stage, the side characters are great too.  Iko is back, just bubbly enough to be both slightly annoying and very endearing.  And Thorne is hilarious   He takes a bit of getting used to, but once you do, he's great.  He's got that sort of Flynn Ryder "I'm devilishly handsome and I know it" vibe.

And the plot?  Scarlet has several twists that I did not see coming, especially the "Grandma, what big eyes you have" scene.  I didn't realize we were in that scene until it was almost over and then my mind was blown.  It was an unexpected way to work that scene, and the surprise was very satisfying.

One of my annoyances with Cinder was the lack of information we got about Luna.  I mean, how did these moon colonists develop crazy mind powers?  But we learn much more about Lunars in Scarlet, and given the way the book ends, Cress should give us even more.  I am a bit worried that we'll start spreading ourselves too thin between all the characters.  We already spend time in Cinder, Kai, Levana, Scarlet, and Wolf's heads.  The next book will throw in Cress at the very least.  If we go too broad, we won't be able to go deep.  But Meyer juggles the multiple viewpoints well.  You always know where you are and which character you're dealing with, which cannot be said of every multiple-POV novel.

The Scarlet-Wolf romance is a bit rushed, which is annoying.  They know each other for a day and then BOOM!  Kissing.  Scarlet has no reason to trust him, but she falls for him.  Also, the ending is a bit sappy.  And you just can't use the word nuzzle if one of your character's name is Wolf.  It's too close to muzzle.  Horses nuzzle.  I also have some issues with Wolf's behavior during the climax (spoilers for the rest of this paragraph).  Yes, he's being mind-controlled and driven to follow animal instincts, but his defense of Scarlet is just too possessive.  I mean, "She's mine!"?  Seriously?  Protectiveness is good, but not possessiveness.  I can see why Meyer wrote it in, but it just rubbed me the wrong way.  

Despite these couple of flaws, I really enjoyed Scarlet.  I could not put it down.  And I can't wait for Cress to come out next year.

Create-A-Cover--Fairytales

If you haven't checked out Fairy Tale Fortnight yet, get over to The Book Rat or A Backwards Story RIGHT NOW because it is awesome.  And because Misty and Bonnie have put together some great posts this year.  And because fairy tales are always fun.  

One of this year's events is a create-a-cover challenge, and I decided to give it a go.  This was my very first attempt at photoshoping, so they're not the most polished images ever, but I'm honestly just impressed that I figured out how to get photoshop to work at all.

I don't know what it is about hooded figures, but I love them.  There's just such an aura of mystery about them.  If you know of any hooded-figure-covers, send them my way.  And the dancer was too graceful not to put in a dancing hall.  Or a creepy, empty cathedral.

I got both (1,2) of the models from faestock.  She has some stunning photos, so you should check out her profile.  The woods are from ~frozenstocks.  And the empty hall is from *E-dina.

Head over to Misty's create-a-cover post to see what other people have created or to submit your own cover.  And while you're over there, check out all the other cool Fairy Tale Fortnight posts.  If you create your own cover(s), be sure to let me know in comments so I can check them out.

Review: Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale

Rapunzel's Revenge--Shannon and Dean Hale
Illustrated by Nathan Hale
August 2008 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens
144 pages--Goodreads

Once upon a time, in a land you only think you know, lived a little girl and her mother . . . or the woman she thought was her mother.

Every day, when the little girl played in her pretty garden, she grew more curious about what lay on the other side of the garden wall . . . a rather enormous garden wall.

And every year, as she grew older, things seemed weirder and weirder, until the day she finally climbed to the top of the wall and looked over into the mines and desert beyond.

Newbery Honor-winning author Shannon Hale teams up with husband Dean Hale and brilliant artist Nathan Hale (no relation) to bring readers a swashbuckling and hilarious twist on the classic story as you’ve never seen it before. Watch as Rapunzel and her amazing hair team up with Jack (of beanstalk fame) to gallop around the wild and western landscape, changing lives, righting wrongs, and bringing joy to every soul they encounter.

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Rapunzel's Revenge is a lot of fun.  I love the western/fairytale mash up, though that setting takes a little getting used to.  Rapunzel is great.  No damsel in distress, she is proactive in rescuing herself from towers, sea serpents, and giant henchmen.  I love the little touches of tomboyishness the illustrations give her, like leaves in her hair after she has been climbing trees.  Jack is also a lot of fun.  He is shameless, but lovable.  He's a scoundrel and a thief without being a jerk.  Like Han Solo, but less rude.  He and Rapunzel play well off each other.

I love the little chunks of humor sprinkled here and ther, things like Jack saying, "We'll have to wait until nightfall," and in the next frame the narrator textbox says "Night fell."  Little quirky things like that make the book not take itself too seriously.

This is not the book you're looking for if you want a complex villain or developed relationship between Mother Gothel and Rapunzel.  I love the mother-daughter dynamic in Tangled, but that is not part of this book.  And I'm okay with that; it's out of the scope of this particular retelling.

Some reviewers have said the plot is too slow before Rapunzel escapes from her tower.  I can agree that the story picks up that once Jack comes in and Rapunzel starts lassoing things with her hair, but I liked the backstory.  Either way, it's a graphic novel, so it's a quick read.  The plot does feel a bit disconnected as we move from one adventure to the next, but it each adventure is still fun.

Rapunzel's Revenge is a fun, quick read, and I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.

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: Princess of the Silver Woods by Jessica Day George

Princess of the Silver Woods--Jessica Day George
December 11, 2012 by Bloomsbury
336 pages--Goodreads

When Petunia, the youngest of King Gregor's twelve dancing daughters, is invited to visit an elderly friend in the neighboring country of Westfalin, she welcomes the change of scenery. But in order to reach Westfalin, Petunia must pass through a forest where strange two-legged wolves are rumored to exist. Wolves intent on redistributing the wealth of the noble citizens who have entered their territory. But the bandit-wolves prove more rakishly handsome than truly dangerous, and it's not until Petunia reaches her destination that she realizes the kindly grandmother she has been summoned to visit is really an enemy bent on restoring an age-old curse. 

The stories of Red Riding Hood and Robin Hood get a twist as Petunia and her many sisters take on bandits, grannies, and the new King Under Stone to end their family curse once and for all.

---

 

I am rarely disappointed with Jessica Day George's books, and Princess of the Silver Woods was no exception.  It was just a good story.  I read it all day on Christmas and finished it early the next day.  

There is a lot of repeat from Princess of the Midnight Ball.  The villain and some of the plot elements are the same, making it more of a sequel to Midnight Ball, than a stand alone in the same world, like Princess of Glass is.  I loved how Glass had an extremely different take on the fairy tale than what we're used to, and I wish I could have seen more of that dynamic in Silver Woods.  

Sliver Woods blends Little Red Riding Hood with Robin Hood in an interesting and fun way.  Oliver (Robin Hood) is given a compelling back story that explains within the world of Westfalin of why he turned to banditry.  I loved the scene when Oliver sort of accidentally kidnaps Petunia.  He is endearingly awkward throughout the whole novel.  Sadly, archery plays no part whatsoever in this story.  How can you have a Robin Hood retelling without firing a single arrow?  Along with the lack of archery is a lack of merry men.  Going into more of the Robin Hood story would have given the story a different angle that would have made it feel less like a repeat of Midnight Ball.  The book is supposed to focus on Petunia and her story, but I feel like the band of thieves are a vastly under-utilized resource.  

The relationship between Oliver and Petunia is a bit insta-lovey, but that's how George's stories usually go, so I can accept it.  In the same vein, the villains are mostly two-dimensional, evil just because they are, which is less compelling.  Also, I started out already knowing who to distrust.  Even in retellings, I like to be surprised by the twists and turns of the story.

I'm being nit-picky about the book's faults.  That's a bit because what I like about the book is hard to quantify.  It's something like reading Ella Enchanted again for the first time.  It's returning to the land of fairy tales for a fun few hours of imagination.  It's getting a wide mix of personalities between the princesses: some spunky, some feisty, some vulnerable.  It's those face-palm, embarrassed-for-the-characters-because-I've-been-in-that-situation-before moments.  It's the thrill of reading through the climax on the edge of my seat even though I already know there will be a happy ending.  It's just that vibe that's so hard to articulate.  Silver Woods has issues, but I still really liked it.  It's a very curl-up-on-the-couch-with-Christmas-treats-for-a-few-hours kind of read.  It's meant to be light and fun and quick.  And it is. 

Side note:  Absolutely gorgeous cover!  Mysterious with a splash of red.