Review: Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel

Skybreaker--Kenneth Oppel
November 2005 by Harper Collins
560 pages--Goodreads

A legendary ghost ship. An incredible treasure. A death-defying adventure.

Forty years ago, the airship Hyperion vanished with untold riches in its hold. Now, accompanied by heiress Kate de Vries and a mysterious gypsy, Matt Cruse is determined to recover the ship and its treasures. But 20,000 feet above the Earth's surface, pursued by those who have hunted the Hyperion since its disappearance, and surrounded by deadly high-altitude life forms, Matt and his companions soon find themselves fighting not only for the Hyperion—but for their very lives.

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I really wanted to like Skybreaker, but it just wasn't as good as Airborn.  It was still fun, still exciting, but it had some glaring problems.

Airborn contained some deus ex machina here and there, but Skybreaker took it to a new level.  Oh no!  We're trapped by pirates with no chance of escape.  But wait!  The pirates have been electrocuted by a sky jellyfish.  What?  Again and again, Matt and company got stuck in hopeless situations and then were provided with miraculous escape routes.  I can accept this once or twice in a novel, but it happened too frequently here to ignore.

Matt was really possessive of Kate.  I get that he likes her and that he's hurt by some of her actions, but he took it too far.  He can feel like he's been punched in the gut, but to think to himself, "How dare she?" isn't okay.  He doesn't own her!  If she wants to flirt with other guys, she can.  She's her own person.  She's not even cheating on him since they have no defined relationship.  But no; how dare she.

I wanted to see more of Nadira.  I wanted her to be her awesome gypsy girl self, jumping off buildings and doing other daring things. Instead, she became fuel for a messy love quadrangle and an angst fest from Matt.  

Skybreaker was not as good as the first book, but it was still a fun romp, complete with sky pirates and a bit more steampunky.  It's just so darn compelling. 

Review: Ironskin by Tina Connolly

Ironskin--Tina Connolly
October 2012 by Tor Books
304 pages--Goodreads

Jane Eliot wears an iron mask.

It’s the only way to contain the fey curse that scars her cheek. The Great War is five years gone, but its scattered victims remain—the ironskin.

When a carefully worded listing appears for a governess to assist with a "delicate situation"—a child born during the Great War—Jane is certain the child is fey-cursed, and that she can help.

Teaching the unruly Dorie to suppress her curse is hard enough; she certainly didn’t expect to fall for the girl’s father, the enigmatic artist Edward Rochart. But her blossoming crush is stifled by her own scars, and by his parade of women. Ugly women, who enter his closed studio...and come out as beautiful as the fey.

Jane knows Rochart cannot love her, just as she knows that she must wear iron for the rest of her life. But what if neither of these things is true? Step by step Jane unlocks the secrets of her new life—and discovers just how far she will go to become whole again.

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A steampunk fey reimagining of Jane Eyre, Ironskin worked so well until it didn't.  

The first two thirds of the book were great.  It was an adaptation like Cinder, where the base story was important to the plot without being a crutch; Connolly had her own story to tell.  She fundamentally changed Jane by giving her a loving childhood, but it worked for the story, especially with her rage curse.  Helen was too greedy* to deserve her name, but I could cope with it.  I liked how Adelle/Dorie's story was progressing as she developed her fey powers.  Grace Poole got a new and interesting back story. The only thing that really needed improvement was the development of the Jane/Rochart romance.

Then everything fell apart.  As we approached the climax, Jane and the other characters started doing things that didn't make any sense, didn't develop the plot, didn't heighten the suspense, and that were included only because Connolly was crutching on the original plot.  Why did Jane suddenly go back to the city during the siege?  Nothing was accomplished that couldn't have been done back at the estate.  The only way it made a particle of sense was to see it as a shoddy adaptation of Jane's post failed-wedding flight.  And things just got worse with the faces and the fey queen and demonic possession.  

After a strong start, Ironskin was a disappointment.  I'll just go watch this episode of The Autobiography of Jane Eyre instead.


*In an earlier draft I accidentally typed "Helen was too groovy."  Now I need a disco adaptation of Jane Eyre.

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.

Review: The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

The Rithmatist--Brandon Sanderson
May 2013 by Tor Teen
378 pages--Goodreads

More than anything, Joel wants to be a Rithmatist. Chosen by the Master in a mysterious inception ceremony, Rithmatists have the power to infuse life into two-dimensional figures known as Chalklings. Rithmatists are humanity’s only defense against the Wild Chalklings — merciless creatures that leave mangled corpses in their wake. Having nearly overrun the territory of Nebrask, the Wild Chalklings now threaten all of the American Isles.

As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students study the magical art that he would do anything to practice. Then students start disappearing — kidnapped from their rooms at night, leaving trails of blood. Assigned to help the professor who is investigating the crimes, Joel and his friend Melody find themselves on the trail of an unexpected discovery — one that will change Rithmatics — and their world — forever.

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I have liked everything I've read by Brandon Sanderson, and The Rithmatist is no different.  Well, it's less mindblowing than Way of Kings and Hero of Ages.  Like most of Sanderson's books, The Rithmatist took me a while to get into, but after the first few chapters I got sucked in and could not put it down.  

The Rithmatist has a very different feel from Sanderson's other novels.  It's simpler.  The characters aren't as intricately developed.  There's only one plot line instead of seventeen.  The world building is less rigorous.  We get a fuzzy sense of the Academy and the politics of the country, but not the hundred years of history that we usually do.  It's mostly a book of "Wouldn't it be cool if..."  There's no particular reason that Korea has taken over Europe and that America is an archipelago.  Its just cool and that's all.  But, not every book needs to be developed to the point of reasoning out the ecology of the animals and plants on a given planet, and Sanderson would lose some of his younger readers if he tried.

Oh, but the magic system.  I don't know how Sanderson does it, but he makes magical theory interesting.  Along with the snooping and sleuthing, I loved learning the principles of Rithmatics, the various strategies you can use, the limits to the system.  Somehow, the magical theory always ends up as one of the most fascinating parts of Sanderson's books.  I love seeing the unique challenges that a particular magic system presents and trying to find a way around it along with the characters.

As I said earlier, the character development is a bit toned down in this novel, perhaps a bit too far.  We do get some back story on how Joel and Melody's parents affected their personalities, but I wanted more.  Young readers can handle more complexity than that.  And we didn't get much of any development of our villains.  I can excuse that for the kidnapper, since we're not supposed to know who it is, but Professor Nalizar is just the  Snape figure we don't trust because...we don't.  Hopefully, we'll learn more about the Forgotten and get some villain complexity in the next book.

Can I just give a shout out here for platonic relationships?  Finally!  A young adult novel where a boy and girl can just be friends without being romantically interested in each other.  I have a feeling that that might change in later books, but at least for now, Joel and Melody are just friends.

The book is well paced, but I'm not perfectly happy with the way the ending.  I feel like there are some unacceptably loose strings.  But that only bothered me a little.  I will of course read book 2.  When it comes out.  In two years.

Review: Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

Airborn--Kenneth Oppel
May 2004 by Harper Collins
544 pages--Goodreads

Matt Cruse is a cabin boy on the Aurora, a huge airship that sails hundreds of feet above the ocean, ferrying wealthy passengers from city to city. It is the life Matt's always wanted; convinced he's lighter than air, he imagines himself as buoyant as the hydrium gas that powers his ship. One night he meets a dying balloonist who speaks of beautiful creatures drifting through the skies. It is only after Matt meets the balloonist's granddaughter that he realizes that the man's ravings may, in fact, have been true, and that the creatures are completely real and utterly mysterious.

In a swashbuckling adventure reminiscent of Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson, Kenneth Oppel, author of the best-selling Silverwingtrilogy, creates an imagined world in which the air is populated by transcontinental voyagers, pirates, and beings never before dreamed of by the humans who sail the skies.

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From the first sentence, I was glued to the page, err, to the ear phones...since it was an audiobook.  That idiom doesn't really translate.  Anywho, it pulled me in right from the start, and I don't know that I can actually nail down what exactly it was that pulled me in.  Maybe it's just the spirit of the adventure.  There's something terribly compelling about swashbuckling, sailing novels, and I especially love air ships.  Airborn is like Leviathan but without the geopolitical stuff.  Just sailing.  Flying.  Exploring.  Soaring.

And excellent characters.  Matt is one of those genuine, root-for-able, hardworking, underdog characters.  He's not a terribly deep character, but I did appreciate the angle with him dealing with his father's death.  Kate is annoyingly short sighted and irresponsible, but her rigid determination is part of why I like her.  In general, the characters are not particularly deep or dynamic.  Airborn is a bit gimicky in the same way Dark Life is with one life-threatening situation and escape after another.  But you know what?  I didn't care this time.  I just got caught up in the adventure.

The audiobook is excellent.  It's a full cast recording with excellent choices for each of the voice actors.  It's definitely worth it if you're looking for something to listen to.

After reading This Dark Endeavor, I was worried that Airborn would just be okay, but it was great.  I couldn't put it down, even when I was supposed to be reading books to plan for next year's curriculum.  It's a thick book, but you can whip through it quickly.

And also SKY PIRATES!!! What else do you need?

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.

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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: Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Leviathan -- Scott Westerfeld
October 2009 by Simon Pulse
434 pages Goodreads

Prince Aleksander, would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battletorn war machine and a loyal crew of men.

Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever.

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Over the summer I read a lot of books for my adolescent lit course, and Leviathan was by far my favorite.  The world building was intricate, the characters were real and funny, the plot line was fast-paced and exciting, the illustrations were amazing.  Since reading it I have recommended it to most everyone I've come in contact with.  This is one of the few books I finished and then immediately had to get my hands on the sequels. 

Leviathan was my first real experience with steam punk and it gave me a great impression of the genre.  The illustrations added so much to the story and gave me a feel for the characters as well as the world.  The pictures guided, without limiting, my mental picture of Deryn, the Leviathan, mech suits, and all the other creation in Westerfeld's world.  I was skeptical about the Darwinists at first.  A flying whale airship?  I could accept that in Dr. Who, but in WWI Europe?  However, Westerfeld pulls it off convincingly with the ecosystem of fabricated creatures, a sentient air ship, and the cleverest ferret-things that you sadly don't meet until book two.

Westerfeld does a wonderful job with the characters.  Everyone we meet is fresh and interesting. I loved Deryn.  She was a no nonsense woman of action, who occasionally dreams of love without making the romance take center stage (one of my serious pet peeves about most YA lit).  She keeps a cool head in the face of danger and wields a hot tongue all the time.  I wish my imagination had a better Scottish voice because Deryn has some feisty speeches.  Alek starts out as a static plot device used to move the story along by getting everyone into a series of scrapes, but he gets better as the series continues.  He becomes more decisive, a better leader, and just more fun.  Deryn and Alek felt younger than their stated ages, but I think that caters to the intended audience.  

Going into the book I wondered how Westerfeld would handle his alternate history.  You can't just have your characters stop WWI from happening; that's much too big a change.  Westerfeld manages to keep the characters a small part of the worldwide conflict without making them insignificant.  Alek and Deryn do become more involved in world politics as the series progresses, but by book three Westerfeld has built up the world enough that the changes he makes are believable.

For my summer reading I was supposed to read 20-30 books from all sorts of genres, so I didn't really have time to spend on Behemoth and Goliath, but I couldn't resist--I had to know what happened next.  So I ignored the books I was supposed to be reading and indulged in the world of Leviathan.  It's been a while since a series drew me in so completely.  However, Leviathan's story is complete in itself; it could be a stand alone novel.  It doesn't have one of those cliffhanger must know what happens next endings.  You finish the book dying to know what happens next because you love the world and the characters and the story, not because you're left hanging.  Leviathan is a fantastic read and the entire series now lives on my bookshelves.