In An Absent Dream (Wayward Children #4) by Seanan McGuire

If you aren't familiar with this series, it begins with Every Heart a Doorway, a novella about Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children. West runs a boarding school for children who have been to other worlds and returned unable to readjust to regular life. Every Heart a Doorway introduces a lot of children who have traveled to these worlds, but doesn't really flesh out individual stories.

McGuire's subsequent books explore these individual stories. One of the great things about this series is that you don't really have to go in order. While there are some threads between books, you really can read them as stand-a-lone books.

In an Absent Dream is the story of Katherine. She's a rule-following girl who always listens to adults and does what is expected of her. Her father is her elementary school's Principal. And because of this, Katherine finds it hard to make and keep friends and feels disconnected with her family. One day, she strays from her normal path home and finds a door in the trunk of a tree. Of course she decides to see what is inside.

Beyond this door, Katherine discovers the Market, which has rules that must be followed based largely on fair value and making and keeping agreements. As a young child, she is given leeway in the agreements she makes and others are allowed to take on debt she incurs. She develops a friendship with another girl and is mentored by a mother-like figure during her visit, which eventually ends.

Upon returning to the normal world, Katherine, who now goes by her surname, Lundy, tries to adjust to normal life. The mystery of her disappearance is an open secret by those around her, except to maybe her father, who seems to know something about her experience. 

As she grows older, Lundy travels back and forth between worlds, learning more about the Market and the importance of paying back debts, including those her dear friend took on during Lundy's first visit. But Lundy also develops a deeper relationship with her sister, and subsequent visits to the market are interrupted as Lundy travels back to keep commitments to her family.  Lundy knows however, that the flexibility given children by the Market will soon fade and she will eventually be forced to decide between the two worlds.  

In An Absent Dream is a short story about another world that might not be perfect, but might be just what Lundy is looking for. It's interesting and dark and fun to read about, but I feel that there is a certain spark that is missing that could elevate this book to a higher level. I'm not sure what exactly it is: that the books are too short to dig deeper, or that the Market isn't a world that speaks to me. 

One of my criticisms about Every Heart a Doorway was that the individual stories weren't fleshed out enough so I appreciate these individual stories. While I feel there could be a lot more said about Lundy's world, I think what we got was just enough to get the point across in this short story.

Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

This review is a bit reflective of my experience with this book - fragmented and maybe incomplete. I started Poison Study years ago on audio book and for whatever reason, didn't finish until just a few days ago. Excuses aside, the story didn't invest me enough to overcome them.

So what follows will be a really bare-bones review of what this book is about. Poison study is a fantasy novel (and the author's first!) that takes place in Ixia - a society that seems like it's from days past, but might actually be a vision of a future possibility. Yelena is sentenced to death for killing someone, which is illegal regardless of the reason. And I'm sure Yelena had a good reason, I just don't remember what it was.

But after being imprisoned for a year, Yelena is offered a choice: she can be executed or become the Commander's food taster. From what I can surmise, the Commander is like a governor (or mayor? king? dictator?) of a region that is basically under martial law. Yelena accepts the offer and gets to work learning how to detect the slightest trace of poison in food. In order to keep her from trying to escape, she is administered butterfly's dust, a poison that will kill her in a day if she isn't given the antidote regularly.

Because Yelena works for the highest official of Ixia, she lives in the...palace?...and hears all the good gossip and is involved in any intrigue to be had. This involves learning to fight, nearly dying, killing people, and falling in love, oh, and there's a bit of magic too.

I don't know why I didn't strongly identify with this book. Maybe it was the audio book itself. I really didn't care for the music between chapters and I didn't like a few voices the narrator used for some of the characters. I wonder if I would have had a different feeling reading it the good old fashioned way.

So I'm just meh about this one. All the other reviews I've read on it are glowing, and there are a lot of other books in this series. It might be worth a look if you're a fantasy novel junkee. I'm not, to be fair. But this didn't bring me any closer to being one either. 

The Witch Must Burn (Dorothy Must Die prequel #2)

 

Well color me surprised. I thought this book was about Glinda but it's mostly about Jellia - although she and Glinda spend the book together. So I guess it's a two-fer.

So far, this is the shortest of the Dorothy Must Die series and two prequel novellas at 67 pages. And to be fair, not a lot happens in this book. Jellia is working in Dorothy's palace...I realize "working" might be a misnomer, as she really doesn't have much of a choice at this point, but isn't that how many of us feel in our jobs? And let's be real, some of us have bosses who may resemble Dorothy, if not in a fun, fashion sense, then in an evil, heart of darkness way.

And Glinda, running a close second in the race for Worst Boss Ever decides to borrow Jellia from Dorothy for a few months for torture sessions and manicures.

At Glinda's palace, Jellia feels under utilized as a basic servant but as a result meets brooding bad boy Nox and is introduced to the idea of his stormy expressions and the Order. She gets just a small taste of the Order too, at the end of the book.

And...that's it. On to the next one.

No Place Like Oz by Danielle Paige (Dorothy Must Die Prequel #1)

This is the backstory on Dorothy after she spent her first time in Oz wanting nothing more than to return to Kansas and then spent her time back in Kansas wanting nothing more than to return to Oz. We begin with Dorothy's infamous (at least to her) 16th birthday party, and are reminded how terrible teenagers are, no matter what universe or timeline you are in. Then Dorothy mysteriously returns to Oz and unfortunately brings Toto, her Aunt Em, and uncle Henry with her. I say unfortunately because not only are Aunt Em and uncle Henry buzzkills for Dorothy, they're buzzkills for me too. I get that they're from a different time and simple, down to earth people, but they were unrealistically annoying. But we don't have to deal with them for too long, if you know what I mean *murderous wink*.

I think it's unfortunate for Toto because he turns into an evil diva and that seems unfair to poor Toto.

Paige provides insight into Dorothy's relationship with Ozma that leads to the unfortunate mind mush incident. And while the mechanics aren't as fleshed out as they are with Amy in the Dorothy Must Die series, we see Dorothy's transition from magical virgin to becoming accidentally more powerful than Oz's rightful ruler - even though Ozma has access to the oldest, strongest power in Oz. I feel like there is a parallel with people who end up in the emergency room after "accidentally" slipping on the Mrs. Buttersworth bottle, but I could be wrong. 

While I had to push the "I want to believe button" for more than once in this book, I'm already balls deep in this series and will pretty much keep reading even if Mrs. Buttersworth herself flies in a declares she's the Queen of Oz.

The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass

There is nothing in this book that I relate to. I am not a 16-year old, gay, black, male. And I definitely don't see ghosts or ghouls. But Jake is and does. And as extraordinary as he is, he still deals with all the other ordinary things a teenager deals with. So Jake's life is...complicated...to say the least.

Jake's ordinary life concerns living in the shadow of his big brother, growing apart from friends, and getting to know the cute new student at his school (now the second black student besides himself). But his daily life is interrupted when he sees ghosts stuck in loops - the last seconds before a person's demise that autoplay for only Jake to see. It's repeating scenes like these that cause Jake to make seemingly trivial decisions, as Jake explains, "I wanted classes only on the second floor to avoid proximity to roads. And the third floor is too high, because the ghosts up there jump out of windows." 

Jake has a theory about death loops, that "the people who end up trapped just didn't see it coming, so their minds got stuck in a glitch. As opposed to some people who did see it coming, because they brought it on themselves. Maybe ghosts who killed themselves get more autonomy when they cross over."

Jake's theory is tested when he becomes haunted by a ghost that can seemingly reach into the living world. As more students begin dying, Jake has to figure out how to stop this new ghost before Jake becomes his next victim.  

What follows is a story involving ecto-mist, astral projection, and possession, told from two points of view. There are a lot of triggers in this book, like suicide, school shootings, abuse, racism, and sex videos - a lot to unpack in a relatively short story. But while the subject matter is heavy, Douglass manages to tell it in Jake's easy-going voice. 

While I'm not the primary audience for this book and am ready to move on to another author, I appreciate the appeal it may have for those ready to unpack its many messages.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne, J.K. Rowling, and John Tiffany

This is a tough one...I loved the Harry Potter books but this isn't technically an 8th book, because we all know Rowling said she was done with the books. So she came up with a new story for a theater production and the screenplay was printed in book format.

So first, let's sort out who actually wrote what. From what I can surmise, the story is a collaborative work by Rowling, Thorne, and Tiffany. But the screenplay itself was written by Jack Thorne.

So what to do. It's not technically a novel, is it? And because it's not, my expectations are slightly different, perhaps even lower. So where to start? Maybe at the beginning.

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number 4, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. Okay, maybe we'll fast forward a bit and start at the beginning of this tale, as much as I'd like to recap all the books. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child takes place about 20 years after book 7 ends. Harry is married to Ginny and together they have 3 kids. The story focuses on Harry's middle child, Albus Severus, who is having trouble adjusting to wizarding life at Hogwarts. Of course, we learn of larger issues in the wizarding world as well. For after what seemed to be a fairly peaceful time in the wizarding world, signs of change are on the horizon. The story evolves into a complex tapestry, weaving this way and that, and even turning back on itself. This is because The Cursed Child involves time travel, which isn't my favorite story-telling device. But I was able to overlook that.

The good? Rowling was involved in writing the story. And she is great at good versus evil. The tale is strong, dark, and continues the themes of her previous books. You get Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, and a lot of other characters we know and love (although some just have quick cameos). She is even able to bring back some beloved characters that have not made it (at least in the world of the living) to this point, and she is able to do it organically and in a way that makes sense to the story.

The bad? It's a screenplay, so you lose a lot of the narrative and background you get with a novel. This is a huge pitfall, perhaps bordering on the ugly. Transitions that are better made in theater with music and lighting changes are not fully realized by reading the script alone. So going from scene to scene is a bit of a bumpy road. I also feel the story depends almost to a fault on the fact that you are familiar with the Potter books, While this is a bit of a given, even with the books, Rowling is able to remind us gently of certain things, either with a memory, a conversation, or a description. But with The Cursed Child, there are time and format limitations that result in certain things, like Albus' first few years at Hogwarts, for instance, being handled like a Fantasyland ride. (If you're not familiar with this story-telling device courtesy of Disneyland, it goes something like this: Snow White's Scary Adventures - quaint cottage. Snow White. Dwarves! Spooky woods. Pretty witch. A mine! Ugly witch. Scary woods. Witch at door. Dwarves!..and witch on mountain. Happy music. The end).

If you approach the Cursed Child as a Harry Potter book 8, you'll be disappointed. It will remind you of how wonderful Rowling's books were to read and made you wonder how much more information we could have obtained if this were a fully realized novel. If you approach it for what it is, a special peek into the theater production, you'll find that the show will be amazing with a lot of special effects and a fun story. I'd really only recommend the screenplay to people who don't expect to see the play but want to know the next canonical story in the Potterverse. For everyone else, I'd suggest seeing the play instead.

Reboot by Amy Tintera

If you're in the mood for another YA dystopian novel, this might quench your thirst. With so many to choose from, what Reboot offers is a quick, easy read with a twist on the zombie genre...but zombie novel it is not.

Wren one-seventy-eight died five years ago. But, as is common with children who contract the mysterious KDH virus, she revived, or rebooted. As her name suggests, she didn't reboot until 178 minutes after her death, a long time compared with other reboots. As a reboot, Wren is separated from her family and sent to live as a recruit for HARC, a government organization that is responsible for keeping KDH, and the population in general, controlled.

Having taken so long to revive, Wren is less human than other reboots. And as a trainer to new reboots, she takes her job seriously. With first pick of the litter, she usually selects high numbered reboots, ensuring less emotional, more easily trained, and always successful recruits. Wren breaks from her usual routine, however, when she meets Callum, a measly 22.

Taking Callum on as a trainee challenges Wren's perspective about herself, as well as HARC. A possible conspiracy pertaining to the "under-sixty" reboots that affects Wren's friend and roommate also makes her question her role in the organization.

In addition, Callum's training doesn't go well. After a few missions in which he defies orders, he faces extermination. Wren finds herself trying to save him in any way possible. And with a mysterious sickness overcoming the under 60 recruits, she doesn't have much time.

So there you have the basic set up. It's a quick read; I felt like not much actually happened in terms of a time line. But there was enough to keep me entertained in this new world - which is actually Texas. I'm not sure how proactively I'll seek out the next book, but if it falls in my lap, I'd read it.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Here's the next big YA trilogy, the first book of which has already been released to the big screen.  It has all the sexy elements a YA dystopian thriller needs to be successful...hot teenagers (going off of the movie trailer a bit on this one)...Ok, wait.  Did I just say "hot teenagers"?!?  Creepy.  I'm way too old to be saying things like that. (I was going to put "waaaaaaaay too old" but no, I'm just "way" too old).

Which brings me to my next point, maybe I'm not the target audience for this genre.  Or maybe the genre is being diluted...I don't know.  Whatever it is, I wasn't totally sold on Divergent.

Okay, back to the "hot teenagers" comment.  This is bothering me.  When a book about 16 year olds is made into a movie that is marketed to adults and teens alike, what the hell am I supposed to think when "Four" is played by a chiseled 30 year old?  I guess technically his character is 18 so I'm in the clear.  Okay, glad we hashed that out.

Back to the book.  Basically everyone in...Chicago (from what I can gather) decided that the ills that plagued them could be boiled down to one thing.  What is that thing?  Well, depends on who you ask.  Some people say it's ignorance.  Others say it's selfishness, or dishonesty, or cowardess, or just plain being mean.  So society split into 5 factions, each trying to embody the opposite of what they believed was the root evil of mankind.  When an individual reached the age of 16, he or she could choose which faction they wanted to become a part of.

So Beatrice grew up in Abnegation, which is a fancy term for self-sacrifice.  But she doesn't quite feel like she fits in.  She isn't down with wearing gray clothes, and not having mirrors, and always being stuck at parties cleaning up.  She's intrigued by the Dauntless (or fearless), who don't just ride the train to and from school, they riiiiiide the train to and from school (the extra i's in that word mean the train doesn't ever stop, it just rolls by while all the Dauntless kids jump in and out of the cars, because they're Dauntless.  And they don't need no stinking train stops).  I could see why that might be appealing enough to make me leave my family too.

So before "The Choosing," Beatrice undergoes evaluation to determine which faction best suits her.  Her test results are abnormal...Divergent, if you will.  Which, apparently is a bad thing.  But really, the fact that people fit cleanly into just one category had me scratching my head.  But okay.

Despite the results, Beatrice ultimately has the choice of which faction to join.  She makes her decision, and most of the book deals with the initiation process that entails.  Then there's some evil plot to take over Chicago (I don't think Chicago is ever mentioned but that's what wikipedia says), and hilarity ensues.

Okay, the book is better than I'm letting on, but it's not the greatest YA novel I've read.  I think my biggest problem was that I couldn't sign on with the premise that people fit into just one category.  Not only does Roth create these clean lines and divisions, but she goes overboard with the stereotyping.  Really?  NO ONE besides Abnegation can help out after an event?  ONLY Amity can be caretakers?  How the hell do children survive in the other factions?  "But that's the point!" you're probably screaming at me.  Yeah, well, if it's that glaringly obvious from the get-go, then what the hell am I doing for the next 400 pages?  And I think we already know that being "divergent" really is the rule, not the exception.

So what's the payoff here?  I'm not sure.  Maybe a great story? Maybe a chance to live in another world for a brief period?  Those are the optimistic options.  The realistic one?  For me?  To skip the rest of the series and diverge to something else.