I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak: A Review in Two Parts

PART ONE: Spoiler-Free
Lately I've been thinking about objectivity and what I want to do as a blogger. Am I really a reviewer? Sort of, but there are so many of those, and I've always been more interested in my personal engagement and other musings that go beyond the actual "good or bad?" content of the books. Sure, there are some things I mostly want to read to review because I'm curious about them in the critical sense, but I do generally prefer to mostly read books I think I'm going to like.

This would be one of those books.

I read The Book Thief over a year ago and I loved it, but I was not entirely sure if I would be interested in I Am the Messenger. However, after becoming really curious based on the rave reviews and mysterious plot description, and I did really love it. It's a mixture of feel-good with everyday sadness and injustice. Plus, it starts with an amusingly ill-executed bank robbery.

 I Am the Messenger follows Ed Kennedy, a 19-year-old cab driver who is going nowhere in life when he receives a playing card in the mail with three addresses on it. At each of these he finds ordinary people in need of help, and goes about helping them (or hurting, if need be) with occasional interventions from whoever is orchestrating this scheme. Similar events occur with the other three cards (the remaining aces of the deck), with the final card directing him to discover more about his close friends.

This sounds light-hearted and formulaic, but it actually wasn't so simple. I don't want to give too much away, but each card and each story is a little bit different. At first it felt like a Ray Bradbury short story collection, visiting several different people of this town with very different lives with an almost mystical quality. (I mean, what really reminded me of Bradbury was the old woman because it was for me reminiscent of a story in Dandelion Wine.) But these characters do come back. Furthermore, many of the people have sad, helpless stories that can never be fully fixed, and there are some terrifying moments.

I loved I Am the Messenger for its magic. It's more than just the message of "even an ordinary person can help people out"--although that is a powerful message. But the novel is essentially about how there are stories living all around us and much too often, we don't realize that. I think that's part of why I like stories like these so much, because it's like when I discover something small and interesting about my friends or watch someone vlogging or read about lives different from my own. There's a whole world out there and sometimes we only see a small slice of it if we don't look. Even Ed did not realize so many things about his best friends.

A note: Unlike The Book Thief, I think this may have been specifically marketed as YA originally (in Australia), Still, as the main character is 19 and living on his own, it stretches that category, and plus Zusak doesn't really talk down to the audience. In other words, if you're not into YA, I'd still check it out!

PART TWO: Contains Spoilers (YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED) 
So, inevitably I must discuss the ending, which is responsible for perhaps the quickest change of emotion I have ever had when reading a book.

As you know if you are reading this, there is an unnamed man who reveals that it was in fact him who orchestrated this scheme, rather than Ed's father before his death in the effort to prevent Ed from becoming like him. The latter did make quite a bit of sense, but this man's explanation?

"I came to this town a year ago, Ed.... Yeah, it was about a year ago, and I saw your father buried. I saw you and your card games and your dog and your ma. I just kept coming back, watching, the same way you did at all those addresses... I killed your father, Ed. I organized the bungled bank robbery for a time when you were there. I instructed that man to brutalize his wife. I made Daryl and Keith do all those things to you, and your mate who took you to the stones... I did it all to you. I made you a less-than-competent taxi driver and got you do all those things when you thought you couldn't. And why? I did it because you are the epitome of ordinariness, Ed. And if a guy like you can stand up and do what you did for all those people, well, maybe everyone can..."

This made me quite angry, honestly. Not only is it highly improbably and there are ethical dilemmas but it just didn't seem to be worth it. Killing and hurting people just to prove a point? However, that was followed up by this:

"Keep living, Ed.... It's only the pages that stop here."
...
He's written about this, I'm sure, the bastard. All of it.
As he walks up the street he pulls a small notebook from his pocket and writes a few things down.
It makes me think that maybe I should write about all this myself. After all, I'm the one who did all the work.
I'd start with the bank robbery.
Something like, "The gunman is useless."
The odds are, however, that he's beaten me to it. It'll be his name on the cover of all these words, not mine.

"The gunman is useless" is, of course, the first line of I Am the Messenger. It would be easy to call this a cheap cop-out where it turns out that it's Zusak (or "an author") all along, but that isn't any fun, is it?

Now, I'm pretty sure the overall point was supposed to be that despite the information that it was orchestrated from the beginning, what Ed did was not any less meaningful. And that's a good point; surely what we read still has impact despite being fictional. But what I find fascinating about this reveal is some of the other questions it raises. Should we view Ed and the others as real people, or as characters tailored to a specific story? Do we really want to orchestrate the world around us to become more like a story? Should we? Does the author have some sort of ethical responsibility?

I'm still thinking about it, actually, which is why this review is so late. Regardless, I Am the Messenger was a delight.

Why Are We Obsessed with Realism?

What is realistic and how is anyone to judge?

It just seems so irrelevant, and yet for many people it's an important factor in judging and critiquing a story. But the truth is that fictional stories aren't real life--in fact, I believe, one of the biggest lessons in life is learning that not everything works out. That sometimes it really doesn't make sense, that sometimes you think things have reached a suitable resolution only to have them return, that it can be quite boring and ordinary. I've got my own little personal history of how I discovered this which hopefully will feed into this blog in the future with the plans I have for posts, but for now I'll leave you with a quote from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, which is possibly my favorite books of all time for its musings on storytelling and because it captured exactly how I felt about the subject when I read it at the time.

"A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. There is no rectitude whatsoever. There is no virtue. As a first rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil."

This is part of a story called "How to Tell a True War Story," and as you can tell, the truth tends to not usually come out the way we might expect a story to. In fact, The Things They Carried is overall very savvy about storytelling and writing as a medium, which is something I'm sure I'll discuss at a later date once I have finished rereading it. But one of its features is a character named

What actually inspired this post was when I was scrolling through A.S. King's blog and found where she had blogged about John Green reviewing her book Reality Boy in The New York Times. I have not read that particular novel of hers yet (though I will get around to it soon). I had actually seen snippets of this before, and while it's overall quite positive, it does contain this very strange quotation without much of an explanation:

King’s obsession with reality makes the novel drag in places, but it’s nice to see someone subtly parody the over-the-top young adult adventure stories that dominate so-called contemporary realistic Y.A.

This is really amusing to me for a couple of reasons. One, if it's supposed to represent reality, of course it's going to drag. Real life can be boring sometimes. Two...this is coming from the author who wrote about two teens flying to Amersterdam to visit an underground author (in a story whose beats are clearly modeled after storytelling ones, rather than reality--think of the significance of where the sex scene appears in the novel), as well as a book about how one girl left behind a string of obscure clues for her friends could find her. Green writes based on storytelling cues, rather than realism, which is absolutely fine. But isn't he also in the contemporary "reaslistic" genre?

So really, why does being realistic score bonus points (except when it doesn't)? Who is to decide? (And I'm not even going to crack open the can of worms about whether characters are relatable or realistic enough. That's a whole other ball game. [What is it with the cliches today?])

To me, it depends on what you're writing about. You might want to write about the real world and how unfair it is, and that would grant an adherence to some semblance of realism. I also think it's important to represent real-life issues like culture, sexuality, and mental health issues as realistically as possible--though of course, you can deal with the issue yourself and talk to a hundred others who have while writing, but there's always going to be someone who doesn't relate. And that's okay. It's expected.


One of my favorite attempts at realism, which I was reminded of while writing this for entirely different reasons, is Buffy the Vampire Slayer's "The Body," also known as one of the greatest episodes of television ever made. It chronicles the immediate reaction of Buffy discovering her mother just laying on their couch, dead. All the characters have their own way of coping with it. For Xander, it's trying to find some way her death is connected to the overall plot of the season, or some other reason such as a doctor's mistake. Because they're in a TV show, every death has to matter, right? But no, not in real life. Which is what "The Body" attempts to chronicle, as it contains no background music (and thus long stretches of painful silence), not much of a plot, and a lot of focus on the character's perceptions of the world during this time.

Yet, you can also have something set in a world that is not our own and make a comment about realism. Well, to be honest, I'm thinking about The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is entirely based around hilariously implausible situations. But when you get down to it, it's really about how the real world doesn't make sense. After all, the Ultimate Answer to Life, The Universe, and Everything is "42," and the question? "What is six by nine?"

But equally, it's okay to bend realism to get a story. Stories can be about escapism, or derive humor for intentionally unrealistic situations, or just want to have a coherent and exciting plot that you might not find in real life. And there's nothing wrong with that, either.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Unwind is a book I've been wanting to read since I happened across it on Goodreads last year, because the premise intrigued me. And oh boy, it did not disappoint. I stayed up late to finish this one, which I was not expecting to do, but the chapters were so short and so suspenseful that I just couldn't wait. It was slower in the middle and some of the beginning, but it was nevertheless very interesting.

In fact, there's so much to talk about with Unwind that I'm going to break this down into sections.

The Basics
Unwind was at the advent and somewhat predates the YA dystopian craze, as it was released in 2007--two years after Uglies and one year before The Hunger Games. It was originally a stand-alone novel, and yes I'm just going to tell you: it has a pretty definite ending. However, a sequel was released in 2012, followed by two more, completing the "Dystology." Apparently it was originally going to be a trilogy but since the final book was long, the publisher suggested making it four. And if Goodreads is any indication, it stays awesome.

The story takes place in the future after a war over reproductive rights, in which it was decided that life could not be touched after conception until the age of 13. Between 13 and 18 years old, parents have the option of "unwinding" their children, which means that every part of them will be able to be reused in a medical transplant or operation, so they are technically "alive." It follows Connor, whose parents simply didn't care enough to keep him around; Risa, a ward of the state (aka no one wanted her), who was scheduled for unwinding because of budget cuts; and Lev, a "tithe" who was born to be unwound as a religious sacrifice. The three of them essentially end up as fugitives and explore and struggle in this world.

The Worldbuilding
For me, this was the best part. Aside from the Bill of Life, we are not really told too much about this world, and so in the grand tradition of showing instead of telling, Shusterman navigates us through this futuristic society as we follow the kids on their journey. First we are introduced to Connor's pain at being unwound simply because his parents don't really care for him; then we meet Risa at the state home and learn about that aspect a little; and then we are introduced to Lev, tithing, the state of religion, and the complicated feelings some of the pastors and citizens have with the concept.

As they explore the world, we learn more as it is relevant. How some babies are "storked," or left on doorsteps, because mothers don't want them. How there are sympathizers and smugglers for Unwinds. How the harvest camps operate. Racism also still exists, just rebranded with different names for skin color. There are gay couples. And the kids scheduled for Unwinding aren't necessarily supportive of each other.

For me at least, this is a worldbuilding technique that is very effective, and it allowed me feel as though I "fell into the world," which is always satisfying.

The Tension
So I do have to admit here somewhere: part of why I enjoyed this book so much was certainly down to personal nostalgia. When I was younger, one of my favorite series was On the Run by Gordon Korman, as well as its sequel series, Kidnapped. These followed two siblings whose parents had been arrested for treason but they kids were pretty sure they were innocent, and when one of them accidentally burns down the farm-like juvie center they were living in (due to no one wanting to foster them), they race around the country as fugitives to find out the truth and stay alive. While, in hindsight, the series likely stretched credibility (although Kidnapped may have been more probable), it was still very thrilling.

And Unwind, with its own set of runaways, certainly reminded me of the thrill in On the Run. But it still was exciting (not to mention thought-provoking and disturbing) in its own right. The most effective rising tension section was one that consisted of very short chapters that alternated between two sides of a rising conflict with a mob mentality. There was also a great eerie scene in which Unwinding was described firsthand, but overall, I don't want to get into spoilers!

The Politics
Well, this is possibly the most interesting part. Certainly, Unwind is based around the issue of abortion, and very much around a "what if?" situation, as it's probably very unlikely we will fight a war over the topic. That said, Unwind does point out that once wars begin, it's more about crushing and hating the other side that believing in anything. Regardless, you'd think from the premise that it would be pro-choice. In reality, it isn't quite that simple--as should be expected, honestly, by the fact that I've never really seen this book on any banned books lists.

Instead, Unwind looks at both sides as becoming corrupt, as evidenced by this quote by a character:

"On one side, people were murdering abortion doctors to protect the right to life, while on the other side people were getting pregnant just to sell their fetal tissue."

Life is cheap, no longer valued as it once was. The debate and rules took precedent over the actual lives of children, and that's where the real horror lies. There's the fact that anyone is free to have children because they don't have to claim the responsibility, sure, but that isn't solely related to the elimination of early abortion: it's an effect of the war and how the issue became treated. And Unwinding, while disturbing, does serve some useful medical purposes...but how much is too much? As such, there are more contributing factors than simply the law, and it's complex (just like how I love my politics). Additionally, there's a hint of the existence of a soul not attached to the body, and the religious characters do make a point to say that they still believe in a God, but not one that condones Unwinding as they were led to believe.

Any Negatives?
Well, honestly, the characters themselves didn't make a huge impression on me. I certainly liked them and understood what they went through, and Shusterman is fabulous at conveying the emotion (the first chapter is a marvel, as is the end), but as a stand-alone novel (initially, at least), the characterization felt limited...or at least, they didn't stand out to me. I also kind of wish Risa got more screentime because as the respectable one, she changed the least and had less of a focus.

Conclusion
Read Unwind. (I mean, if it interests you.)

My Most Anticipated Releases, 2015

I know this is a little late, but honestly, I don't really keep up with new releases, and I rarely buy books straight as they come out. However, I found that several of them were appearing on my to-read list, and some of them are lesser known but I'm really excited about them.

Books I Will Definitely Be Buying in Hardback

August 4th: Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead: Stead's When You Reach Me has been a favorite of mine since it won the Newbery Medal. It means a great deal to me. Now, this one is strictly realistic--no philosophical time-travel discussions, I'm sure--but it still interests me. It concerns relationships between middle schoolers, both friendships and romantic, and it apparently tackles some themes not often seen in middle grade. I love Stead's quiet storytelling and it informs my own writing for that age group, so I'm very excited for this!

September 22nd: I Crawl Through It by A.S. King: I absolutely loved the three A.S. King novels I read last year, and I've been wanting to read this since I discovered that it's her most surreal yet and involves escaping from standardized tests. But then a more official blurb was released, and I am more in love:

Four talented teenagers are traumatized--coping with grief, surviving date rape, facing the anxiety of standardized tests and the neglect of self-absorbed adults--and they'll do anything to escape the pressure. They'll even build an invisible helicopter, to fly far away to a place where everyone will understand them... until they learn the only way to escape reality is to face it head-on.

Different from her recents, but I love it

Basically, I really need this book. I always feel under pressure (a lot of it by myself) due to perfectionism which has possibly led to other issues at this point. I wish I could fly away in an invisible helicopter. Although, an invisible helicopter? I must understand all this weirdness!

King also said:

I Crawl Through It is a surrealist novel. I love surrealism and it seems in my twenty years of writing novels, I was always moving in this direction. The teens in the book aren’t just trying to escape standardized testing, they’re also escaping school violence—intruder drills and bomb threats—and their lives, in general. In a standardized society, those who don’t fit into the little ovals feel freakish. Except the ovals are really a lie. No one has a perfect life, no matter how many advertisements seem to want to sell us one.

September 22nd: Why Is This Night Different from All Other Nights? by Lemony Snicket: This is the fourth and final book in the All the Wrong Questions series, the companion/prequel series to the A Series of Unfortunate Events of our childhoods. I've been following these as they've come out, usually asking relatives for each one for Christmas, which will probably be what I do again instead of buying it when it comes out. I don't have much to say because I haven't read the third book yet (which apparently has more to do with the driving plot), but I expect childhood wonder mixed in with cynical sarcasm.

Books I Will Read (Wait Until Paperback/Library)
January 6th: Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick: This one's already out, and it's a series of four interconnected stories from different points in history (including the future, I believe). I've heard it's pretty weird and not the kind of thing to get mass appeal...so I'm really curious. Plus, it's a different way of telling a story.

January 27th: Fairest by Marissa Meyer: I've changed my mind, I think I'll probably read this. It seems like an interesting little story. (See Winter below for context if you need it).

February 3rd: Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances by Neil Gaiman: Right now I need to catch up on some Gaiman before I read this, but I've been enjoying short stories lately and I'm interested. I've already read the Doctor Who story (it was one of the ebooks published for the 50th Anniversary).

February 24th: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab: I still have yet to read anything by Victoria/V.E. Schwab, though I plan to soon, but I've heard nothing but good things and I can get behind some adult/general fiction fantasy.

March 30th: Solitaire by Alice Osman: This was released in the UK and elsewhere last year and is now making it around to the U.S. Mostly I am interested because it was written by a very young author (19), the front cover (of the original edition at least) claims that it's a love-free YA story, and it features a cynical protagonist. Sounds fun.

April 7th: None of the Above by I.W. Gregorio: A YA debut that's been getting some press. It follows a girl who discovers she intersex. I've been attempting to read more diversity lately, so I'm interested in reading this story and learning something.

April 21st: Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman: This is apparently an in-depth look into the mind of someone with a mental illness, so I'm very interested to see how it is written and how it plays out. Plus, it was influenced by Shusterman's own son's condition. I've also enjoyed Susterman's writing in the past and currently, as I'm making my way through the very fascinating Unwind.

April 28th: Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley: This is pitched as Stardust meets The Fault in Our Stars, which is a tirelessly annoying marketing tactic that has me rolling my eyes. However, upon looking at the summary, the ship-in-the-sky and travels to another world sound like it's mostly Gaimanesque fantasy, so I guess TFiOS = the lung disease the character has, and a hint of romance. Additionally, a reviewer I trust has said this is actually a very unique and original novel, and it sounds very dream-like, so I'm in!

April 28th: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir: This is a pretty hyped-up (currently stand alone!) fantasy, and since I have fond memories of fantasy stories but haven't had much luck lately, I hope this will do something for me.

August 28th: The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness: This is apparently the story of a nobody in a YA-story-like world. Sounds hilarious and interesting.


July 14th: Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee: I know, I know, this is going to be insanely a big release based on the frenzy that has gone on since the announcement was made. I like To Kill a Mockingbird fine, though I wasn't too fond of the way it ended, and I was originally pretty excited for this. However, I'm having some ethical questions regarding its publication that are making me uncomfortable. (If you haven't heard, check out articles like these.)

November 10th: Winter by Marissa Meyer: I've been really enjoying The Lunar Chronicles lately, so I'm sure once I read Cress I'll be really excited for this one! It looks like it's going to be quite long, too...

---

And that's it! There are some others I've seen hyped up, but I'm not completely sure if I'll like them. What are you looking forward to?

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.