What I've Been Reading #2

I haven't done one of these in a while, so here's what I've read since my last post. All but the first were read in December and January. Reviews are linked where I go much more in depth. I'm only including star ratings as obligatory, because I find any system of ranking frustrating. (They tend to fluctuate and change.)

1. Cinder by Marissa Meyer: I enjoyed this so much more than I was expecting to. Even though I felt some of it was underdeveloped, it was very entertaining and I'm hooked on this series--the first time this happened to me with a YA book in the whole of 2014. 4 stars.

2. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin: This was a small but very charming read, and that's kind of just what it was. Simple but nuanced, and heartwarming. 4 stars.

3. Ask the Passengers by A.S. King: Not as original as Everybody Sees the Ants, and at some points it seemed to attempt to mimick the stylistic choices of the latter, but still enjoyable.  I admire King's willingness to include flawed and often unlikable characters, as well as consequences. Somewhere between 4 and 4.5 stars. (No, I'm not going to even bother with breaking the stars into quarters at this point.)

4. Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King: This one took me a little while to get into, but oh man, I ended up loving it. This one has more magic realism and narrative tricks (a pagoda narrates some small sections, for instance), and even more screwed-up characters...but I loved where it headed, for some reason. Somewhere between 4.5 and 5 stars.

5. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: This was easier to read than I expected it to be, and I found myself really enjoying the middle section. It certainly has its place in the literature canon for its depiction of the constraints of women in that society, but it personally didn't work its way into my heart to become a favorite or anything. In other words, it was just a pretty good books. I do want to read Jane Austen sometime; this sort of genre does not personally appeal to me, but it's still enjoyable and important and I want to give Austen a shot. 4 stars.

6. Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury: Of course, I have to continue reading Bradbury's major works. This was is yet another collection of short stories and vignettes, perhaps the most similar to The Martian Chronicles. However, it did have mostly shorter stories which I don't enjoy as much as the longer ones, and it didn't form as much as a coherent narrative as I had hoped. Still, when it worked, it worked, and it was magical. 4 stars.

7. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut: Oh, this book. Currently, it escapes me. You see, it was so easy to read, as it's composed of short snippets thrown together non-linearly, and the writing is pretty basic--at times hilarious, at times a bit too monotonous. There were bizarre parts, there were tragic parts, there were a few funny parts. But I'm not sure what became of it; it just seemed to slip away. I think I may have read it too fast? I understood what it was doing, but it wasn't cohesive to me, and I think a large part of that was how quickly I sped through it. Sigh. Here's to Cat's Cradle captivating me more. 4 stars.

8. 1984 by George Orwell: This one sucked me in, and I loved it. Sure, the characterization is simplistic and it's obvious that Orwell prefers to focus on the politics, but he created such a fleshed-out dystopian world that I was amazed. On the other hand, it was probably not to include a 30-page excerpt of a in-universe book which tells the history of that world. (I won't lie, I skimmed through most of it.) Still, it was gripping, and the ending was marvelous and right up my alley. I still prefer Fahrenheit 451 for other reasons, but I think I found a new book to add to my favorites list. 5 stars.

9. Animal Farm by George Orwell: I didn't get as involved with this one, though of course it gets its point across well and I loved the ending. 4.5 stars.

10. Throne of Glass by Sara J. Maas: This was an incredibly average read for me. I found myself reading it, not disliking but also not particularly liking it. I did enjoy the climax and where it appears the series will be going, however, though that meant it felt more like a prequel than anything. 3 stars.

11. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams: I started out loving it--Adams is witty as ever--but my attention waned as it went on. It seemed oddly structured and the humor and critique was not as prevalent as I thought it would be. I hope this one improves with age and maybe a closer reading, but right now I'm a little disappointed, sadly. 3 stars.

12. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer: I went into detail in my review, but this was my first audiobook. I loved the narrator, but I discovered that audiobooks weren't for me and it would have been much better if I read it it in print, because it would have felt more concrete to me. Still, it was quite enjoyable, although the futuristic Earth continues to be underdeveloped. 4 stars.

13. The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams: I feel the same way about this as the first Dirk Gently book I personally preferred the storyline in this one, but still...bit disappointing. 3.5 stars.

I read a lot more than I expected in these months, but vacation helped. Still, I think I may try toning it down in February because I don't want it to become overwhelming and I don't want to miss important things!

Scarlet by Marissa Meyer: Audiobook Adventures

Cinder was the only YA series starter I read last year that I enjoyed enough (and quite enough!) to continue on with the series--and good timing, too, since the final book Winter comes out this fall (and will be 800 pages?), though I'm on the fence about Fairest. Anyway, on a whim I wanted to try listening to an digital audiobook from my library, and I chose Scarlet to be the first full audiobook I would listen to.

I loved the narrator, Rebecca Solar. She did a great job at being engaging, picking up the appropriate tone (especially the sarcasm!), and doing the different voices--her Iko voice was adorable! However, I don't think audiobooks are my thing. It was helpful in the care or a time I wouldn't normally be reading (basically, the car), but otherwise, it felt too passive. It was too easy to get distracted and think I was taking in the story when I really wasn't. I've had a lot of troubling with reading anything lately because it so often becomes more about reading words and flipping pages than following along--terrible, I know--so I'm trying to change how I mentally process things. (As I am with a lot of things in my life to be honest at this point.)

So, the actual book. As I mentioned earlier, I did feel like the audiobook made it harder for me to follow along so...unfortunately, that happened. However, I do think I got a pretty good grasp. But I'm also starting to feel like so far, this series is very entertaining, but I'm not completely into the world and storyline, particularly the former.

Forewarning: Due to the difficulties I had with listening to an audiobook described above, I have an embarrassing lack of details to share. Fortunately, I'm also attempting to avoid spoilers.

My main gripe is still the vague setting. This one had even less than Cinder, which at least devised a hierarchical society including cyborgs and androids, a plague, some possibly-not-correct Chinese honorifics and other shallow attempts at including the culture, some history and geography in this future, as well as the basics of the Lunars. Scarlet, on the other hand, takes place in France and aside from throwing in some French names and words, it felt like less effort was put into sketching out this society. (But it's part of the west so it's just generic, right?) In fairness, Scarlet did focus more on the Lunars, but it's frustrating that a series that wants to take place all around the world in the future doesn't do much to develop that setting.

That aside, I did enjoy Scarlet as much as Cinder, though reading them in different mediums has made them hard to compare. Scarlet did have more twists and was more unpredictable; I figured out the twist to Cinder very early on. There also seemed to be more (and quite brutal) action, and higher stakes. As with Cinder, the original fairy-tale is only weaved through so that it seems like a cheeky reference rather than the basis and then comes back to hit you unexpectedly--the "what big hands you have" scene is preserved in the most unexpected of places. It's a bit too difficult to explain how the fairy-tale impacts the story without spoilers, however, because at first it isn't what it seems.

I think I liked Cinder even more here, but I appreciated how the characters criticized the actions of each other (well, mostly Scarlet questioning Cinder near the end). Her banter with Thorne was hilarious, and I love how the narrator of the audiobook gave Thorne a constant sarcastic tone so that you took him even less seriously than you would have to begin with. Scarlet is fun but I never felt like I got a great grasp on her, however. Wolf (who is actually a reluctant street fighter) I was very pleased with--a YA male love interest of a different body type? Heck yeah! Okay, I'm obviously very biased and probably read into that (the fanart doesn't seem to agree with me, dammit), but I think I may have actually found myself really hoping they would turn out okay because I wanted their dynamic to be present in it, and it took me through several turns along the way.

I'll be reading Cress hopefully soon. I've heard it's the best so far and I'm definitely returning to print/ebook! I really feel like I missed something here, but oh well, we'll see how it goes.

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas: Fantasy-lite

Throne of Glass is a bit of an unusual case with me and YA. Frankly, I did not feel strongly about it one way or another. This did not exactly surprise me because I had heard similar feelings about it, although in contrast the second book is supposed to be better in anyway, so I want to give that a shot eventually. (The third book seems to have garnered a more mixed response so far, and then there are three more to go...)

Anyway, Throne of Glass is high fantasy and follows an 18-year-old assassin, Celaena Sardothian, who is released from her work slaving in a salt mine for punishment to become the "champion" of the local king. In other words, she takes an alias and must win him a competition in which various other criminals compete in feats of strength and combat. (Unlike The Hunger Games, this is a competition of merit and not survival, although death is possible in some of the trails.) If she wins, she must serve him for four years and then she will be released from imprisonment. But at the castle where the competition is taking place, some of the champions start turning up dead.

I've heard others calling Throne of Glass "Fantasy-lite," and I kind of have to agree. There is little effort put into worldbuilding. It takes place in your typical medieval European setting, and there is one prominent fantasy element that is roughly explained and developed, but few characters interact with it. There were a few references to a belief system, other regions, but nothing was explored or quite experienced except one holiday called Yulemas that is filled with parties, candy, and religious service...sound familiar? Overall this read to me like a prequel (even though it's not, because there's a whole bind-up of prequel novellas...), and there was not the feeling of the interesting and otherworldly.

So, Celeana. My feelings of apathy on the book carry over to her. One early gripe: apparently, "assassin" is the equivalent of "psychopath," as early on the book Celeana imagines gruesome things she wishes to do to those she gets into an argument with, and the other characters warn about being around her. But they aren't the same things; an assassin, at least in Celeana's case, is hired and trained, and a psychopath wishes to kill because of his or her abnormal neurological functions. We never quite know how her mind really works and how she feels about her situation. It's only hinted at, and the violent thoughts I mentioned above are abandoned. Meanwhile, she's also a really great at all aspects of combat, she loves to read and play the piano, she's beautiful...but as the book went on a couple of flaws were hinted at in her fighting style and she was given more of a backstory, so I don't feel completely negative. She was just so distant to me.

Something about the pacing and structure also did not hold my attention.There was not too much focused preparations between each of the tasks, and they just sort of came and went. There seemed to be a lack of drive to investigate the murders, too. In fact, when Celeana has a potential suspect who could be threatening her life, it is followed by 30 pages of romantic festivities. I enjoyed the last 20% or so more, however.

Yes, there is some romance, but I actually wasn't angry about it! I mean, I didn't love it either; like the rest of the book, it was just another thing that happened. Shrug. There's even a hint of a love triangle, although the relationship with the other potential love interests seems like it will develop gradually over time, which is something that I'm all for. Meanwhile, I really liked the way Celeana handled the relationship in this installment on her own terms at the end, but I'm not going to spoil it.

Interesting to me about Throne of Glass, in the tradition of what I attempt to figure out on this blog, is how it fits into YA. Honestly, I feel like this is a bit upwards of the teenage range. I don't mean that it's better or more complexly written (it isn't compared to my favorite YA), but what it deals with seems a bit above teenagerhood. Celeana is 18; the other two supporting characters are 19 and 22. The ending in particular struck me with a sense of trying to figure out one's place in the world with newfound freedom, which sounds what those a bit older would go through. Hmmmm...categories and distinctions always interest me.

Anyway, Throne of Glass was a very meh read for me. I didn't particularly enjoy it, but I didn't dislike it. I just unfolded in front of me without engaging me, for the most part. But I like the direction this series is going and I heard the second books has more developed characters and a better plot, so I'll be giving that one a try at some point. YA fantasy hasn't proved to be my thing, but my preferences have shifted away from fantasy recently.