Review of Eona

Eona
by Alison Goodman
Young Adult fantasy
Pub date April 19th 2011

[I gave this book, like most books I review on this blog, five stars on Goodreads.com]

I wish I could give a book six stars. This one earned all six. Alison Goodman spent months agonizing over the last 3 or 4 chapters, and it was completely worth it--they're amazing, and a fitting ending to the Eon/Eona saga.

There are so many things I love about these books that I don't know where to start.

In Eon, the first book, Eon is a girl passing as a boy in order to train as a candidate for the Rat Dragoneye Apprenticeship. Although she is crippled and a girl, her master has managed to help her through the long training process and finally the day has come for the Rat Dragon to choose a new Dragoneye apprentice. The chain of events that begins on that morning spins quickly out of control, and Eon must use all of her resources to stay alive.

In Eona, Eon's true identity has been revealed and she is on the run from Sethon, the pretender to the Emperor's throne. Eona is coming into her power and her identity, but she doesn't have time to figure things out slowly. Every moment counts as she and the true emperor battle to restore him to the throne. Throughout everything, the power of the dragons and the richness of the culture make this an incredibly lush set of novels.

I love the world that Alison Goodman has created. It's like Tamora Pierce's Tortall in its breadth and depth of tradition, and the Asian-ness of it is incredibly compelling. The characters inhabit a place and time where breach of etiquette can mean serious consequences, but they must reinvent the rules as they go.

The love story is also brilliantly developed. Eona is a character who has gone from a young girl, servant, and cripple to someone with enormous power over dragons and men. Her moral compass is constantly being recalibrated, and it shows in her every action. She has to tell lies and keep secrets, even from people who love her.

I could probably go on for years about this book, but I think you just have to read it.

Review of The Last Little Blue Envelope

The Last Little Blue Envelope
by Maureen Johnson
Young Adult fiction
Pub date April 26, 2011

Fans of Maureen Johnson have expressed both delight and dismay at the prospect of a sequel to 13 Little Blue Envelopes, originally published almost five years ago. "More Ginny! More Keith! *squee*!!" say the optimists. "Maureen Johnson cannot possibly top the first book, especially since she didn't leave much in the way of loose ends," say the pessimists.

Well, pessimists, let me put your concerns to rest. This book is as good as and better than the first one. You thought the wild careening around Europe was done? Wrong. You thought the romance was played out? Wrong again. Ginny has a new haircut, a new outfit, and 304 more pages of hilarious experiences, observations, and adventures.

In the first book, Ginny finds herself alone in Europe with thirteen letters from her dead aunt. Each letter directs Ginny to a new location and teaches her a little bit more about Aunt Peg. But when Ginny is almost done with her journey, the last letter is stolen. Now, months later, a mysterious English boy contacts Ginny to tell her that he has found the thirteenth little blue envelope--and she has to come to London to get it.

Maureen Johnson's genius lies in her ability to make the most mundane parts of life completely hilarious. She and John Green share the honor of being the best dialogue writers in YA fiction. This novel has the added bonus of taking place mostly in England, so there is a plethora of funny nicknames and insults.

There's also a new character: Oliver, who is holding the last letter ransom. Tall, mysterious, and kind of dashing, he's the perfect addition to the cast of characters.

I just finished the book today, and already I want to reread it.

EDIT: Keith is in this book! He is as Keithy as ever. I would even venture to say that his car is a main character in this book too.

Censoring Huckleberry Finn

******RANT WARNING******

So I'm sure most of you have heard about the new version of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. This new special version has two controversial words--"nigger" and "injun"--replaced throughout the text with "slave" and "native". The reason for the censorship is to make the book more accessible to students who might be turned off to the book if they saw words that are today considered racist.

I understand that the "n" and "i" words are deeply offensive, and not just to racial minorities. I even understand how someone could make a case for changing the words in order to get a wider readership in high schools and a less controversial classroom discussion.

However.

This is censorship, plain and simple, and if it becomes common practice then we're effectively allowing non-authors to determine the content and language of someone else's creative work.

It's not like this is a new argument--most older books (especially classics) have something that could be considered offensive, un-PC, or generally ignorant in modern society. That's part of the reason that they spark ongoing debates in classrooms. Confronting controversial topics is a huge part of education. Ignoring controversial topics doesn't serve anyone except a teacher or administrator who is too lazy to guide a potentially unruly discussion. And if you're that kind of teacher or administrator, I would recommend NOT reading Huckleberry Finn at all because there are much more difficult topics like slavery and child neglect to address. This book is the perfect forum for discussion about racial slurs, the evolution of language, and the history of race relations.

Of course, it's possible to have a discussion about the words without having to read the words within the text. But think about the cost of that approach. We're opening the floodgates on censorship if that becomes an acceptable solution.

I'll end my rant with a quote from Mark Twain, provided for me by the Christian Science Monitor:

"I wrote 'Tom Sawyer' & 'Huck Finn' for adults exclusively, & it always distressed me when I find that boys and girls have been allowed access to them. The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be washed clean. I know this by my own experience, & to this day I cherish an unappeased bitterness against the unfaithful guardians of my young life, who not only permitted but compelled me to read an unexpurgated Bible through before I was 15 years old. None can do that and ever draw a clean sweet breath again on this side of the grave."

Review of The Near Witch

The Near Witch
by Victoria Schwab
Young adult fantasy
Pub date 8/2/11

Ever since I finished Chime by Franny Billingsley, I've been looking for another atmospheric fantasy with a good romance. The Near Witch really fits the bill. It's about a girl named Lexi who lives with her mother and five-year-old sister Wren. The town of Near rarely sees strangers, so when an unfamiliar boy appears late one night and children start disappearing from their beds, the town starts a hunt for the stranger.

Lexi, whose father trained her to hunt and track, finds him first. Together Lexi and the stranger must uncover the kidnapper before the town finds them.

A common problem in atmospheric fantasy (like Patricia McKillip's books or Deerskin) is that the main character is a little too cryptic to be accessible. Lexi isn't--she's smart, headstrong, and ready to grow up. This is a great book for kids who are ready to graduate from middle-grade to Young Adult fantasy--and older readers, too, of course.