The Assassin’s Curse (The Assassin’s Curse, #1) by Cassandra Rose Clarke

This book is: the opening of a intriguing YA fantasy series.
Other elements: pirates, magicians, pirate gender roles, supernatural islands, aspiring lady pirates.
Read it: if the draw of a burgeoning 17-year-old lady pirate sounds awesome enough to get you through a slow-starting story.
Overall rating: 7/10

I chose this book for two reasons: first, because of the beautiful cover (I know, that’s a faux pas), and secondly because the protagonist is a lady pirate and that’s awesome. That, and it was one of my prize options when I won Glipho’s Strange Chemistry book review contest! Thanks, Glipho and Strange Chemistry!

This book is going to be hard to review because of how much it feels like just the first part of a story. That’s not a bad thing, because it really is the first part of a story, and there are sequels to come.

The story opens with the introduction of pirate captain’s daughter Alanna of the Tanarou’s introduction to her future husband. She knows she’s being traded away as collateral for future inter-clan relations, and she doesn’t like it. At 17, she already has dreams of captaining her own ship, but she knows that the only realistic dream for a girl in her situation is marriage. At the last minute, Alanna sees a chance for escape and takes it. However, her bid for freedom seals a price on her head and sparks a war between families. When her attempt to defend herself against an assassin sparks an unlikely magic curse and binds the two former enemies together, Alanna and her new companion find themselves facing a set of impossible tasks that are their only chance to break the curse.

I know that sounds like a whole plot summary, but I promise that’s less information than you could read on the back of the book.

I absolutely love the idea of a sassy, rebellious lady pirate, but Alanna of the Tanarou doesn’t really come into her own within the confines of this book. She’s 17 and she’s a young 17. She says herself that the longest she’s ever been away from her parents is three weeks, and that was only one time. She has a lot of growing up to do. This really isn’t a problem, since this is the beginning of a series, but it would have been more satisfying if it felt like the main character grew at least a little during the first installment of her series. By the end she still feels as naive and childish as she did at the beginning.

Part of that might be the way that the character is written. She speaks slightly in dialect, but it’s used inconsistently and the overall effect is jarring. Grammatical inaccuracies appear every few sentences, but the same character also is known to speak beautifully, using sophisticated syntax. The dialect feels very forced and it makes it hard to get a feeling for the character. Here are some examples:

The tent’s shadow seemed to be shrinking, burning up in the sun. Sand blew across my feet, stuck to my legs.  – Page 103

“What! This ain’t us stopping for the night?” – Page 103

I hadn’t even realized the hope for what it was until it got dragged away from me and I felt its absence in my heart. I couldn’t let go of that old vision of my future life and the thought of what it was going to be like now. – Page 155

…my voice turning into light. Ain’t no way that was me. – Page 37

Those were all narration or dialogue from the same character. It made it really hard for me to get a handle on her personality, and harder still to get absorbed into the story. But even so, I became used to the dialect about halfway through and stopped feeling jolted out of the novel every time I encountered a weird speech pattern.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and if I happen across the sequel, I’ll give it a chance. I’d be interested to see what’s next for this aspiring lady pirate captain and her assassin.

Tell the Wolves I’m Home: A Novel by Carol Rifka Brunt.

This book is: quiet, eerie, beautiful.
Other elements: growing up, sisters, art, alcoholism, AIDS, family secrets, being a teenager, music, being an outsider, the sacredness of objects, Mozart’s Requiem.
Read it: if you can identify with a young girl who likes to hide in the woods alone so that she can pretend to be in the Middle Ages.
Overall rating: 9/10

Watching people is a good hobby, but you have to be careful about it. You can’t let people catch you staring at them. If people catch you, they treat you like a first-class criminal. And maybe they’re right to do that. Maybe it should be a crime to try to see things about people that they don’t want you to see. – Page 4

I really liked this book. I thought it was written in absolutely the perfect tone. Every time I picked it up, I was absorbed immediately. I never had to stop myself from skimming or hurrying as I read it – the book’s events unfolded perfectly in their own soft pace and I was content to let them wash over me as I read.

I don’t mean to say that this book is slow or lacking in action; that’s certainly not the case. This book gave me the feeling that I get when I’m inside wrapped in a blanket and it’s raining or snowing out.  It’s sweet and sad and wonderful.

All my parents’ music came from greatest hits albums. It was like the thought of getting even one bum track was too much for them to handle. – Page 76

The jumping off point of this novel is a traumatic event: a young man named Finn has died of AIDS and the reader witnesses as the protagonist, Finn’s 14 year old niece June, and the rest of her family renegotiate their lives after his loss. June is a dreamer and a bit of an odd duck both in her school and in her family – her Uncle Finn was her closest friend.

One of the elements that resonated most with me was the relationship of the protagonist, June, and her older sister, Greta. Sister relationships are complicated, especially when the girls in question are anywhere near high school age. Brunt did a marvelous job of capturing June and Greta’s complicated dynamic: the inside jokes, the vicious fights, the taunts, the frustration, the desire to be close some days and hurt each other on others – all of it underlined by the bone-deep certainty that they would always have each others’ backs when things are serious, no matter what. I put down this book more than once after a scene with Greta and June to give my own sister a call.

By the end of the book the reader is also treated to a foil of June and Greta’s relationship: the relationship of their mother and her brother, the late Uncle Finn. The relationship of June’s mother to her brother and how it has affected the whole family’s lives is one of the main factors that helps June to grow during the course of the story. It’s learning more about her mother’s past that helps June starts to see both her mother and her uncle as fallible people who have lived lives of their own.

I sat on a bench and my mother stood in front of me, looking down at the track. Her hair was cut short, and because it had turned gray when she was twenty-three, she always had it dyed a deep chestnut brown. It was that color all over except for a super thin strip at the top of her head, where the gray showed through. Sometimes I wanted to touch that place on my mother’s head, that thin crack where her real self had forced itself through. – Page 164

Also, how great is that cover? And I love the title. Mysterious and appropriate.

This is a wonderful book. It’s on the sad side – most of the Goodreads reviews call it a tearjerker, although I didn’t feel that way – but beautiful and full of meaning.

Can you believe I’ve done 30 book reviews already? I can’t.  But you know what it means by now when I get through my 10th book review in a row: time for a book review roundup!

Here’s a mini-recap of every book I’ve reviewed so far, along with their ratings and links to the reviews. You can also always consult my virtual library, the Index of Book Reviews, to find this list at any time. You wouldn’t want to miss anything, now would you?

Fire (Graceling Realm #2) by Kristin Cashore

Overall rating: 10/10

This book is: an enthralling, beautifully written story.
Other elements: hope, magic, sexy angels, creation myths, a star-crossed-lovers romance, blue hair.
Read it: if you appreciate wonderful writing, vivid description, creative storylines, magic, Prague, art, or romance between people who are very different.
Overall rating: 9.75/10

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
This book is: the most fun you’ll ever have witnessing the Apocalypse.
Other elements: angels, demons, condensed milk, dogs, aging mediums, talkative Satanist nuns, the nature of humanity, impending doom, hijinks.
Read it: if you enjoy wry humor. If you giggle at any of the quotes below.
Overall rating: 9.75/10

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
This book is: Awesome.
Other elements: Humor. Being a woman, being yourself. Life.
Read it: If you admire smart, sane women who have smart, sane things to say about life.
Overall rating: 9.5/10

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
This book is: terrifying and brilliant.
Other elements: parenting, marriage, children, psychopaths, motherhood, school shootings.
Read it: if you enjoy really chillingly brilliant characters. If you’re not prone to nightmares.
Overall rating: 9.25/10

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
This book is: beautiful.
Other elements: fate, destiny, following your dreams, love.
Read it: if you enjoy a healthy dose of magical realism.
Overall rating: 9/10

Outlander (Outlander #1) by Diana Gabaldon
This book is: a historical fiction time-travel romance.
Other elements: Romance! Adventure! Manly men in kilts! Rebellion. Sex. Botany.
Read it: If you like the idea of adventuring (and romancing) with manly men in kilts.
Overall rating: 9/10

My Charmed Life By Beth Bernstein
This book is: a memoir about a strong woman and her jewelry.
Other elements: airplanes, divorce, family dynamics, marriage, jewelry, being a woman.
Read it: if you love (or even like) jewelry and like stories about inspirational women.
Overall rating: 8.75/10

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King
This book is: bright and sharp.
Other elements: teenage love, not wanting to repeat your family’s mistakes, what it means to be responsible, dealing with your baggage.
Read it:if you enjoy crisp writing and a good story.
Overall rating: 8.5/10

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
This book is: charming.
Other elements: walking, befriending strangers, what’s really important in life, marriage, growing old, mortality.
Read it: if you’d enjoy witnessing the adventures of an aging, mild-mannered Englishman.
Overall rating: 8.25/10

Graceling (Graceling Realm #1) by Kristin Cashore
This book is: A YA fantasy novel, the first in a series, about a girl with a supernatural gift for killing.
Other elements: Right vs wrong, romance, friendship.
Read it: If you like YA fantasy, if you enjoy ass-kicking women, if you liked The Hunger Games.
Overall rating: 8/10

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
This book is: a well-written, totally insane psycho/mystery/love/crime story.
Other elements: Lies. Marriage. Public opinion. Love.
Read it: If you enjoy crime shows. If you like having your mind blown.
Overall rating: 8/10

Life of Pi Yann Martel
This book is: about a boy and a boat.
Other elements: tigers, prairie dogs, turtles, boats, survival, religion, science, biology, human and animal relationships, the human mind.
Read it: if you’re interested in zoology, tiger taming, lifeboat survival, or religions. If you enjoy wonderfully precise description.
Overall rating: 8/10

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
This book is: an bright, engaging, character-driven novel.
Other elements: friendship, philosophy, being middle-aged.
Read it: if you are fascinated by excellent characters.
Overall rating: 7.75/10

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
This book is: a love story with several different love stories happening around it.
Other elements: old Hollywood glamor, scenic Italian coastlines, curses, Richard Burton.
Read it: if you’re in a romantic mood (or a bubble bath. I read most of this in a bubble bath.).
Overall rating: 7.75/10

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
This book is: A story told from the point of view of a 15-year old boy with Asperger’s or autism.
Other elements: Pets, parenting a special needs child, math.
Read it: If you’re interested in psychology, if you appreciate excellent first-person perspective.
Overall rating: 7.5/10

The Lies of Locke Lamora (The Gentleman Bastard Sequence #1) by Scott Lynch

Overall rating: 7.4/10

The Man with the Golden Torc by Simon R. Green
This book is: silly.
Other elements: urban fantasy, magic, adventure, saving-the-world, conspiracy theories, humor.
Read it: if you have the right sense of humor (do you enjoy Terry Pratchett? Monty Python?).
Overall rating: 7.25/10

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
This book is: A book about college and relationships.
Other elements: Some degree of bildungsroman, life with manic depression/life with a manic depressive, how your parents affect who you are, the role of religion in a modern world, unrequited love.
Read it: If you are interested in early prescription treatments for manic depression, if you miss college, if you sympathize with characters having religious crises.
Overall rating: 7.2/10

This book is: entertaining.
Other elements: siblings, myths, gods.
Read it: if you like stories about mythical characters, if you like Neil Gaiman, if you love karaoke.
Overall rating: 7/10

The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1) by Rick Riordan
This book is: about a boy who suddenly finds out that myths are real and he’s related to one. Adventure ensues.
Other elements: Parent/child relationships, Greek mythology, learning disabilities.
Read it: If you like YA fantasy, if you enjoy Greek myths, if you are 10 years old.
Overall rating: 6.9/10

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
This book is: entertaining in a made-for-tv-movie way.
Other elements: hidden agendas, infidelity, seduction, sex with inappropriate people, poison, snow.
Read it: if you want a sordid, easy read.
Overall rating: 6.25/10

The Passage by Justin Cronin
This book is: a creative, well-written story that just did not float my boat.
Other elements: viruses, vampires, apocalypses, government cover-ups, doomedness of the future.
Read it: if you like adventure, sci fi, and battling monsters created by humankind’s folly.
Overall rating: 6/10

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin.
This book is: A gritty crime novel set in a rural town.
Other elements: Class issues, race issues, nature of friendship.
Read it: If you like crime shows, don’t mind dialect, and aren’t easily depressed.
Overall rating: 6/10

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
This book is: a disappointment.
Other elements: circuses, vagueness, mist, confusion, mysteries, stripes, clocks, incorporeal fathers.
Read it: if your love of description outweighs your desire for a coherent story.
Overall rating: 5/10

Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk
This book is: flabbergasting.
Other elements: sex. STDs. Porn. Revulsion. Incest. Dandruff. Suicide.
Read it: if you have absolutely no threshold for depravity.
Overall rating: 4/10

Against the Light by Dave Duncan
This book is: mediocre.
Other elements: cliches.
Read it: if you’re bored and it’s already in your hand.
Overall rating: 4.5/10

The Reluctant Matchmaker by Shobhan Bantwal
This book is: boring with sprinkles of offensiveness.
Other elements: fat-shaming, sexism, romance between people of different heights, arranged marriages.
Read it: if the idea of an Indian-American main character is enough to make you forgive a lot of flaws. If you’re not a feminist. If you think women without husbands are pathetic.
Overall rating: 3/10

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
This book is: Historical fiction about Ernest Hemingway and his first wife.
Other elements: Women not standing up for themselves, adultery, dependence on men, emotional abuse, alcoholism, polyamorous relationships, bullfighting.
Read it: If you are fascinated by Hemingway, if you like Lifetime movies, if you don’t mind weak female characters, you’re stranded somewhere with absolutely nothing else to do and have run out of thoughts.
Overall rating: 2/10

An Escapade and An Engagement by Annie Burrows
This book is: a romance novel about a horrible woman and a horrible man who have an unconvincing relationship.
Other elements: Sex. Patriarchy. Golden ringlets.
Read it: If your only alternative is death.
Overall rating: 0.01/10