Book Review: Normally This Would Be Cause for Concern

Title: Normally This Would be Cause for Concern: Tales of Calamity and Unrelenting Awkwardness
Author: Danielle Fishel
Pages: 224

Boy Meets World was a popular show for kids growing up in the 90's and Danielle Fishel was one of the main characters on the show. I loved Fishel's character, Topanga, who marched to the beat of her own drum and was a very strong independent girl. Before reading this book I had not followed the track of Fishel's career since Boy Meets World or even took a peek at her Wikipedia page. I had no expectations going into this read.

I found that I really really enjoyed Danielle's voice. She was laying on the sarcasm thick at some parts and a few reviewers found this annoying. I actually enjoyed it and felt like I was talking to an old friend retelling some highlights of her life. There is no mention of risqué events in Fishel's life - whether she experienced them or not is not mentioned at all. If readers are looking for debauchery or other nefarious tales then this book is not for you. Fishel retells some humorous stories of her life but there is nothing out of the ordinary.

The book was way too short me. I was having such a good time reading it that those 224 pages went by fast. If you're looking for an exposé you are looking in the wrong place, but if you want something a little more detailed than a Wikipedia entry then this biography is perfect for that.

Book Review: Clariel

Title: Clariel
Author: Garth Nix
Pages: 382

*Warning: This review contains spoilers so please do not continue reading if you want to avoid them*

If I had to choose a magical world to live in of all the fantasy novels it would be hard not to choose The Old Kingdom. Nix has woven a wonderful world together filled with magic, royalty, talking cats, and the somber presence of Death. There would be a couple stipulations for me to live in this world: I would want a baptismal Charter mark and I would want to be a member of one of the main bloodlines (a distant Royal or Wallmaker would be nice). Wearing bells seems appealing but walking in Death seems too terrifying for my weak psyche. I would no doubt end up like poor Clariel. Anyways back to the review... :)

Fans of the Abhorsen trilogy (no longer three though!) have been waiting a very long time for Clariel. We got a sneak peek at the ill-fated Abhorsen in Lirael (the second book) as "Chlorr", a devious masked necromancer who was from the protectors-of-Death bloodline. Clariel gives us the story on the events leading up to Clariel becoming Chlorr.

In this fourth book Nix takes us to a place and time we've never been in the Old Kingdom. We learn more about life close to the wilderness of Estwael. The grand palace and the heyday of the capital, Belisaere, appear to the readers in their original glory compared to its destruction and darkness portrayed in Sabriel. I really enjoyed the bit about Clariel attending a finishing school for the top families of the capital and learning more about the Guilds at the time and the growing disdain for Abhorsen and Charter magic. It did sadden me to learn about such a large and living Abhorsen family in this time period, knowing that Sabriel was one of the last in that line which means some massacre must have occurred over the centuries. Readers will be pleased to see Mogget reappears in this prequel and he is especially sinister and persuasive. The waterfall prison for Free Magic creatures is wonderful - I thought when I read it "I had no idea that was there!" - but remembered that I wasn't the brilliant writer who came up with the Abhorsen house and no knowledge of its many layers.

The only downside to this book was the main character. I found Clariel too weak and unlikeable compared to her future descendants (Sabriel and Lirael). She whined way too much for my liking. So much teenage angst for someone who had everything handed to them on a gold plate. There was never any doubt that she wanted to go back to the woods because it was mentioned on nearly every page. OKAY we get it already, Nix!!! This weakness is what drove her to become a necromancer and towards the end when she is trying desperately to cling to the Charter I felt pity for her. She was left unguarded among horrible creatures that took advantage of her ignorance, who fed her lies and false hopes, and she was left with a broken promise that she could return unscathed to the Charter.

I liked the character of Bel a lot - it was a first to see a strong minded male Abhorsen in a series dominated by women. Huh, you don't see that scenario very often! I would have enjoyed learning a bit more about his experimentation with being a self-taught Abhorsen and why he never realized he was the true Abhorsen-In-Waiting. Maybe in a future book, pretty please?

Even if the main character was a little disappointing I felt that getting exposure to this wonderful world for another 382 pages was well worth the read. For my 2015 summer reading I plan on going back through all of Abhorsen novels again with the newest addition. If you love Old Kingdom as much as I do, you'll appreciate this book too!

Book Review: James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing

Title: James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing
Author: G. Norman Lippert
Pages: 549

*Warning: This review contains spoilers so please do not continue reading if you want to avoid them*

First off, it should be known that I have an odd relationship with fanfiction. I believe that it's fun to read and fun to write, but I am against these writers gaining notoriety for a work they've made on the backs of others' hard work. This is why I did not get on the 50 Shades of Grey bandwagon when it came through town. That being said this book is one of the best Harry Potter fanfiction works I've ever read and my opinion on fanfiction has slightly shifted because of the hard work and originality of the author.

This book (and series) is about Harry Potter's eldest son James Potter in his first year at Hogwarts. For seasoned readers of Harry Potter novels you will be pleased to find that the old cast of characters are very true to the original series. Harry as a parent was fun to read. While slightly encouraging James to take the Marauder's Map and the invisibility cloak, Harry still made sure the boy was grounded for stealing them. My expectation of James was met too: what a shadow that poor kid would have to grow up in being the firstborn of the great Harry Potter! Lippert understood this very well. As the book progresses James has to come to terms with his father's looming shadow and how much he differs from Harry. One great thing about Lippert's take on James is that the kid is just a  normal but curious boy. Right off the bat James fails at Quidditch and learns that he has to work at it which is very unlike Harry's freakish natural ability to excel at the sport on his first broomstick ride. And where Harry's greatest weakness was not being able to ask for help, it appears that his son has overcome that flaw. I really enjoyed that the story had a solid plot and obvious character development. Technomancy is such a great original idea and I hope the other books in the series include this technical analysis of magic.

The only negative thing I have to say about this book is that the author does not seem to know how an eleven year old boy thinks. At some point in the book one of the trio mentions wooing an older student and I just shook my head at the absurdity that someone of that age would have any real sexual interest in the opposite sex. Lippert must have realized that too because a couple of lines later another character commented on the fact that they were too young to care about that stuff. I don't know, that might be just me thinking that - I was never an eleven year old boy to accurately judge the portrayal of one.

Anyways, if you're looking for a little magical fix to soothe that Harry Potter hole in your heart I'd recommend downloading this. Because Lippert can't actually make a profit off these novels they are available for free in ebook format on a really nice website here: http://www.elderscrossing.com/

Book Review: One More Thing

Title: One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories
Author: B.J. Novak
Pages: 276

One More Thing is a collection of short stories. This is not an autobiography and a lot of the stories don't pertain to real life events yet alone the author's history. Is it comedy? I'm not sure. In some of the stories I could see the irony of the situation and it made me smile, but overall I did not find this book funny. It appears that I don't have a very developed sense of humor after reading reviews of how much others enjoyed this book. I like sarcasm and witty, yet obvious humor but this book was filled with more subtle jokes.

There were some short stories in this collection that I really enjoyed such as 'Julie and the Warlord' and 'Sophia'. I got a real kick out of 'New Hitler'. Most of them just puzzled me. It's possible I would have enjoyed an audio version of this much more than the text. Sometimes in comedy it is all about timing and delivery. This book just didn't work for me.  Back to straightforward chicklit and fantasy reading for me!

Book Review: Allegiant

Title: Allegiant
Author: Veronica Roth
Pages: 526

*Warning: This review contains spoilers regarding the series so please do not continue reading if you want to avoid them*

The third and final installment in the Divergent series did not meet expectations. I had been forewarned about this poor finale going into the series and ignored the warnings. It was disappointing to realize those naysayers had been correct because I felt Divergent had so much potential!

This book flip flops between Tobias' and Tris' point of view as they escape the city walls to discover the meaning behind a perplexing recording revealed at the end of Insurgent, the second novel. As a reader, I don't like when an author switches writing styles after two novels have already established readers to a certain style. Stephenie Meyer did this in Breaking Dawn by switching temporarily to Jacob's point of view and it failed for me in that novel. In Allegiant it was made worse because every other chapter switched between Tris and Tobias. It felt disruptive to the story to switch so often. I also had been very attached to Tris in the other prior novels, but because of the shifting viewpoints it was hard to connect with her in Allegiant.

The political context that was revealed outside of the city walls put a limitation on any good outcomes of the novel. The explanation of having this city experiment in the first place was poor. Overall it appeared that Roth had thought out the faction system well enough but not the reasons behind it. If the faction system were to disperse from the city then they would face horrible living conditions and discrimination. If those people were to stay in the city they would be forced to decide on keeping the faction system or disbanding it with major bloodshed by arguing parties.

I do not want to get into the specific details of the ending, but suffice to say it made me angry. Tris had basically no character development in the end - she was stubborn and selfish (thinking she was selfless) till the last page. How two very different groups decided to peacefully agree on a government system was beyond me. At the end I was left feeling that the author was saying "You can leave now, nothing more to read about here."