Book Review: The Sky Village

The Sky Village
Kaimira: Book One
by Monk Ashland and Nigel Ashland

In a futuristic world dominated by wars between men, beasts, and meks, two children find themselves in possession of a strange book. In China, a girl named Mei is sent by her father to the Sky Village, a huge floating city of interconnected balloons, for safety after her village is attacked and her mother taken by meks. Among her possessions is her mother’s book, the Tree Book, which her father gave her for safekeeping but instructed her strictly not to open it.

In Las Vegas, a boy named Rom sets off to rescue his sister after she is taken by beast-mek hybrids called demons. Rom is captured and taken to the caves under Las Vegas, where he’s forced to learn to control a demon and fight in gladiator style battles with other demonsmiths in order to rescue his sister. Rom also has a Tree Book, which belonged to his father.

When Mei inadvertently alienates the birds who have always been allies of the Sky Village, she must learn to perform the highly risky sky dance to restore the city’s friendship with the birds. Meanwhile, Rom tries to learn to control the demons and win the tournament without losing his mind to the technology. When Mei and Rom open the Tree Book to look for answers, they discover that they can communicate with each other, and also with an entity named Animus who seems to reside in the book. They also learn that each has an unusual gene called the kaimira gene, which combines elements of beast, mek and human within them. Mei and Rom find comfort in communicating through the book, as each tries to learn to use their unique abilities to save the people they care about before it’s too late.

The Sky Village is a unique fantasy with rich world building. Monk and Nigel Ashland have created two fascinating cultures, each of which shows elements of their root cultures. The Sky Village is a lovely concept, a city made of balloons tied together and floating above China. The culture of the Sky Village is an interesting mixture of traditional Chinese elements with unique elements unique to an airborne society. I particularly loved the nuptial rituals. The caves under Las Vegas, by contrast, have a culture steeped in greed and gambling that seems appropriate to their location.

The characters are also interesting, varied and colorful. The two protagonists are likable, sympathetic, and quite human: they make mistakes and they fail, sometimes with disastrous consequences, but they are both courageous and caring, and try to make up for their mistakes. The plot is exciting and holds your interest, although I did find Rom's story a little more exciting than Mei's.

One thing that frustrated me is that the story reads like science fiction, and yet the science wasn’t explained and sometimes seems impossible. For example, the demons, which are supposed to be some kind of beast-mek hybrid, materialize out of thin air, apparently constructed from the mind of a demonsmith. I find it hard to understand how something like that could really exist - perhaps some type of nanotechnology? But for now, I’ll comfort myself with Arthur C. Clarke’s third law, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” and hope that the science will be better explained in future books.

Kaimira is an exciting and enjoyable series, and I look forward to reading future installments.

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Thinking about two different vacation reads (Little Brother and The Adoration of Jenna Fox)

Last week I was on vacation, and I was looking for some great books to take with me to enjoy on the trip. I decided to take Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow, and The Adoration of Jenna Fox, by Mary E. Pearson. Both books have been much talked about on the blogs, and both intrigued me. (And a hat tip to Jen Robinson for the suggestions.)

Although both books are set in a near-future, dystopian America, it's hard to imagine two books more different, and it got me thinking about the differences.

Little Brother is set in San Francisco, a couple of years in the future, although it's so close to where we are today that it could as well be tomorrow. Marcus is a seventeen-year-old who knows a lot about technology and how to bend the "systems" to his own ends. Marcus likes to play Alternate Reality Games, or ARGs, which combines computer-based gaming with real world adventures seeking clues out in the city. While Marcus and his team are out searching for the next clue, San Francisco is attacked in the worst terrorist attack in the country's history. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his friends are picked up by Homeland Security and interrogated in a secret prison for days. Three of them are eventually released, but one of Marcus' friends never returns. San Francisco has become a police state, as Homeland Security continues to crack down with ever tighter security. Marcus fights back in the only way he knows how, using his wits and technology to outsmart Homeland Security, and spark a revolution.

It's hard to know what to make of Little Brother. It breaks some of the rules of good writing, and in a literary sense, it isn't very well written. For example, there are many sections where the flow of the story is interrupted for several pages of description of things like encryption or the civil rights movement. And it's clearly a message book - something that's normally considered a big no-no for YA fiction.

And yet. In spite of all this, Little Brother is a darn good story. The plot is exciting and relevant, and Doctorow has done a great job of capturing an authentic teen voice. The long, technical asides will most likely appeal to his audience, and the message is one that will resonate with most teens. I personally couldn't put it down and loved every minute of it. I even enjoyed the technical descriptions, although I confess to being something of a geek myself, and I agree with the message. As I was reading it, I started thinking of young people that I wanted to pass this book along to. In fact, I wish that every teen in the U.S. - and every adult - would read this book.

I do have one more little quibble with the book. One of the strong themes in the book is one of youth empowerment, and yet for all that Marcus and his friends accomplish, nothing is solved until the adults get involved. Don't get me wrong; Marcus is a true hero, and his accomplishments are essential in moving towards the ultimate resolution. But the turning point of the book is clearly the moment when the adults get involved. It may be more believable, but I feel that it weakens the theme.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox is set a little further in the future, but not so far that you can't see it as a natural outgrowth of the present. Jenna Fox has just awakened from a year-long coma following a terrible accident that no one will tell her about. Jenna remembers nothing, and she tries to reclaim her past and her identity by watching videos that her parents recorded of her over the years. Jenna begins to piece together an identity for herself, as she integrates fragments of resurfaced memory with new experiences and feelings. But is the new Jenna Fox the same person as she was before the accident? And why does she increasingly get the sense that her parents aren't telling her everything. I can't say too much about this book without spoiling some of the surprises, but you'll have to trust me that there is a futuristic/dystopian element to it.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox is as literary as Little Brother isn't. It's beautifully written; poetic even. It's tightly plotted; the characters have depth, and issues of identity and scientific ethics are explored in a balanced way. And yet. I have to confess that I didn't enjoy it as much as I enjoyed Little Brother. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it. The Adoration of Jenna Fox is an excellent book. But I never completely got wrapped up in it the way I did with Little Brother. I think that in part this is because Jenna's lack of emotion in the beginning of the book distances you from her from the start, and although she does begin to feel emotions again, I never completely was able to cross that distance to identify with her. It's a beautiful book and I enjoyed it, but it was more of an external enjoyment, an appreciation of its literary qualities.

I'm not sure if any of this says anything about the quality of either book. It may say more about my personal preference than about the books themselves. I just found it interesting reading the books back to back and comparing their merits. Obviously these are two books that will appeal to very different audiences. (I refuse to classify books as "boy" books or "girl" books - I'm a girl and I know which one I preferred - and I don't believe in genderizing books. But the temptation is there to do just that with these books.) Both Little Brother and The Adoration of Jenna Fox are outstanding books that are well worth reading.

Little Brother has some minor sexual content at a level that would probably be appropriate for high school age and above.

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Book Review: Out of the Wild

Out of the Wild
by Sarah Beth Durst

Twelve-year-old Julie Marchen’s home of Northboro, Massachusetts is still recovering from being taken over by the Wild, a mass of vines that is the withered remnant of the fairy tale world. Centuries ago, Julie’s mother Rapunzel led a rebellion against the Wild and helped all the fairy tale characters escape from the tyranny of being forced to live the same story over and over. After that, the Wild was reduced to a mass of vines that usually resides under Julie’s bed, until recently, when someone made a wish at the Wishing Well that helped the Wild to escape. Julie was able to defeat the Wild, but Northboro is still repairing the damage, and its residents are healing from the trauma they experienced while imprisoned in The Wild. Julie is glad that things are back to normal, but she can’t help feeling guilty about leaving her father in the Wild, and wondering if she did the right thing.

Then the Wild does something unexpected: it releases her father, with no warning and no explanation. Julie and Rapunzel are thrilled to have him back, but they can’t help being suspicious. Why did the Wild release him? It’s unlike the Wild to be generous; is this a trap?

Julie’s father is everything that she had dreamed, a real hero. Perhaps too much of a hero: when Sleeping Beauty (who is still asleep from her time in the Wild) is kidnapped, he sets off on a quest to rescue her, without concern for the consequences. As the situation gets worse and the Wild grows in strength, it becomes apparent that someone is behind it all. But why would anyone want the Wild to grow?

Out of the Wild is another great sequel that does what good sequels should do: it turns the assumptions from the first story upside-down, and provides a new and fresh perspective. We’ve seen the tyranny and the horrors of The Wild in Into the Wild. But is it possible that not everyone sees it that way? I don’t want to say too much and spoil the surprises, but this is a fresh and fun sequel that’s every bit as good as the original, maybe better.

The plot is exciting, engrossing, and well-paced, with a dash of humor for good measure. It’s touching watching Julie try to connect with the father she’s never known, except for a brief encounter, as the two of them learn how to relate to each other, and how to adjust to the difference between expectations and reality.

Out of the Wild will be published next Thursday, June 19.

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Book Review: Dragon Flight

Dragon Flight
by Jessica Day George

The Dragon Wars are over and life has settled down; Creel and Marta are busy with their dressmaking business. With the upcoming wedding of the Crown Prince Milun to Lady Isla, the young Countess of Dranvel, the shop is busier than ever with many dresses to make for the wedding, including the bride's trousseau. Unknown to all but a select few, Shardas and Velika survived their plunge into the Boiling Sea, although both were badly injured, and Creel keeps in touch with Shardas through a speaking pool in her room. Life would be pretty good, if the younger Prince Luka, whom Creel is in love with, weren't far away, in the land of Citatie. And even if Luka were at home, Creel knows that as a commoner, she could never marry him.

Then word comes that Citatie has declared war on Feravel, and Luka's life is in danger. But even worse is the news that Luka sends: Citatie plans to invade Feravel...and the invasion force is mounted on hundreds of dragons. Creel finds herself once again caught up in events, as she, Tobin, and Marta, along with Feniul, Niva, and Amacarin, head to Citatie to meet up with Prince Luka and gather intelligence. When they reach Citatie, however, they discover that the situation is even worse than they expected.

It's rare that a sequel is better than the original, but I loved Dragon Flight even more than its predecessor, Dragon Slippers. I loved Dragon Slippers, but thought it was a little slow in places. Not so with Dragon Flight! It was well-paced and exciting; even if I wasn't reading it as part of the 48-hour challenge I wouldn't have wanted to put it down.

I also love a sequel that turns things around from the original, and this one does that. I don't want to say too much and spoil the surprises, but this book is definitely not more of the same. What is a welcome return from the original, though, is the dragons; they were definitely the best part of both books. Shardas, Velika, Amacarin, Niva, and my personal favorite, Feniul, along with some newcomers, are back, each with their own distinctive personality, and with some character growth as well.


Pages: 262
Total 48-hour book challenge pages read: 502
Total 48-hour book challenge books read: 2
Total time reading and blogging: 8 hours