strange and random happenstance

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell
Published by: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 592 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New York Times bestselling author Rainbow Rowell's epic fantasy, the Simon Snow trilogy, concludes with Any Way the Wind Blows.

In Carry On, Simon Snow and his friends realized that everything they thought they understood about the world might be wrong. And in Wayward Son, they wondered whether everything they understood about themselves might be wrong.

In Any Way the Wind Blows, Simon and Baz and Penelope and Agatha have to decide how to move forward.

For Simon, that means deciding whether he still wants to be part of the World of Mages - and if he doesn't, what does that mean for his relationship with Baz? Meanwhile Baz is bouncing between two family crises and not finding any time to talk to anyone about his newfound vampire knowledge. Penelope would love to help, but she's smuggled an American Normal into London, and now she isn't sure what to do with him. And Agatha? Well, Agatha Wellbelove has had enough.

Any Way the Wind Blows takes the gang back to England, back to Watford, and back to their families for their longest and most emotionally wrenching adventure yet.

This book is a finale. It tells secrets and answers questions and lays ghosts to rest.

Carry On was conceived as a book about Chosen One stories; Any Way the Wind Blows is an ending about endings. About catharsis and closure, and how we choose to move on from the traumas and triumphs that try to define us."

I'm so excited about this, but also, I need to ask, I'm not the only one who sings these book titles right!?!

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim
Published by: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A princess in exile, a shapeshifting dragon, six enchanted cranes, and an unspeakable curse...Drawing from fairy tales and East Asian folklore, this original fantasy from the author of Spin the Dawn is perfect for fans of Shadow and Bone.

Shiori'anma, the only princess of Kiata, has a secret. Forbidden magic runs through her veins. Normally she conceals it well, but on the morning of her betrothal ceremony, Shiori loses control. At first, her mistake seems like a stroke of luck, forestalling the wedding she never wanted. But it also catches the attention of Raikama, her stepmother.

A sorceress in her own right, Raikama banishes the young princess, turning her brothers into cranes. She warns Shiori that she must speak of it to no one: for with every word that escapes her lips, one of her brothers will die.

Penniless, voiceless, and alone, Shiori searches for her brothers, and uncovers a dark conspiracy to seize the throne. Only Shiori can set the kingdom to rights, but to do so she must place her trust in a paper bird, a mercurial dragon, and the very boy she fought so hard not to marry. And she must embrace the magic she's been taught all her life to forswear - no matter what the cost.

Weaving together elements of The Wild Swans, Cinderella, the legend of Chang E, and the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, Elizabeth Lim has crafted a fantasy like no other, and one that will stay with readers long after they've turned the last page."

I love the weaving together of stories, but more than that, I love dragons. Bring on the dragons.

Synchronized Sorcery by Juliet Blackwell
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"As witch and vintage store owner Lily Ivory steps into her new role as leader of the Bay Area's magical community, she's faced with a mysterious death of magical proportions...

Strange things are happening in Lily Ivory's San Francisco. First, she finds a vintage mermaid costume which dates from the 1939 San Francisco's Treasure Island World's Fair - and which gives off distinctly peculiar vibrations. Next, she stumbles upon a dead man in the office of her predecessor, and as the community's new leader, she feels compelled to track down the culprit. Just when Lily thinks things can't get any stranger, a man appears claiming to be her half-brother, spouting ideas about the mystical prophecy involving San Francisco and their family...

When the dead man is linked to the mysterious mermaid costume, and then yet another victim is found on Treasure Island, Lily uncovers ties between the long-ago World’s fair and the current murders, and begins to wonder whether the killer might be hiding in plain sight. But unless Lily can figure everything out in time, there may be yet another body floating in San Francisco Bay."

Is it just me or does it feel like a loooooong time since we've had an new volume in this delightful series?

Kill All Your Darlings by David Bell
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When a student disappears and is presumed dead, her professor passes off her manuscript as his own - only to find out it implicates him in an unsolved murder in this new thriller from the USA Today bestselling author of The Request.

After years of struggling to write following the deaths of his wife and son, English professor Connor Nye publishes his first novel, a thriller about the murder of a young woman.

There’s just one problem: Connor didn’t write the book. His missing student did. And then she appears on his doorstep, alive and well, threatening to expose him.

Connor’s problems escalate when the police insist details in the novel implicate him in an unsolved murder from two years ago. Soon Connor discovers the crime is part of a disturbing scandal on campus and faces an impossible dilemma - admit he didn’t write the book and lose his job or keep up the lie and risk everything. When another murder occurs, Connor must clear his name by unraveling the horrifying secrets buried in his student’s manuscript.

This is a suspenseful, provocative novel about the sexual harassment that still runs rampant in academia - and the lengths those in power will go to cover it up."

Naughty Connor. This book has two things I love, people getting their just desserts and a Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch "Kill Your Darlings" reference.

The Bone Code by Kathy Reichs
Published by: Scribner
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with her twentieth gripping novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, whose examinations, fifteen years apart, of unidentified bodies ignite a terrifying series of events.

On the way to hurricane-ravaged Isle of Palms, a barrier island off the South Carolina coast, Tempe receives a call from the Charleston coroner. The storm has tossed ashore a medical waste container. Inside are two decomposed bodies wrapped in plastic sheeting and bound with electrical wire. Tempe recognizes many of the details as identical to those of an unsolved case she handled in Quebec years earlier. With a growing sense of foreboding, she travels to Montreal to gather evidence.

Meanwhile, health authorities in South Carolina become increasingly alarmed as a human flesh-eating contagion spreads. So focused is Tempe on identifying the container victims that, initially, she doesn’t register how their murders and the pestilence may be related. But she does recognize one unsettling fact. Someone is protecting a dark secret - and willing to do anything to keep it hidden.

An absorbing look at the sinister uses to which genetics can be put, and featuring a cascade of ever-more-shocking revelations, The Bone Code is Temperance Brennan’s most astonishing case yet - one that gives new meaning to today’s headlines."

I'm glad we live in a world where there is always more Bones. 

Manfrone or, The One-Handed Monk by Mary Anne Radcliffe
Published by: Valancourt Books
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 324 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Manfrone; or, The One-Handed Monk (1809) opens with an unforgettable Gothic scene: a lascivious monk enters the lovely Rosalina's bedroom at midnight through a secret panel, planning to rape her-but suffers the gruesome loss of his hand when he is caught in the act.

But the one-handed monk is not the only danger facing Rosalina. Her father, the haughty Duca di Rodolpho, is determined to marry her to the cruel Prince di Manfron and has imprisoned her true love, Montalto, in the castle dungeon. And then there is the mysterious Grimaldi. What are his inscrutable plans, and is he trying to help Rosalina or destroy her?

This new edition of one of the most popular of 19th-century Gothic novels includes the unabridged text of the original four-volume novel and features a new introduction by Lisa Kroger."

A reissue of a classic novel my Mrs. Radcliffe that Jane Austen surely read!

Incense and Sensibility by Sonali Dev
Published by: William Morrow Paperbacks
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The author of Recipe for Persuasion - "not only one of the best but one of the bravest romance novelists working today" (Shelf Awareness) - adds an Indian American twist to Jane Austen's classic Sense and Sensibility in this delightful retelling that is a feast for the senses.

Yash Raje, California’s first serious Indian gubernatorial candidate, has always known exactly what he wants - and how to use his privileged background to get it. He attributes his success to a simple mantra: control your feelings and you can control the world.

But when a hate-fueled incident at a rally critically injures his friend, Yash’s easy life suddenly feels like a lie, his control an illusion. When he tries to get back on the campaign trail, he blacks out with panic.

Desperate to keep Yash’s condition from leaking to the media, his family turns to the one person they trust - his sister’s best friend, India Dashwood, California’s foremost stress management coach. Raised by a family of yoga teachers, India has helped San Francisco’s high strung overachievers for a decade without so much as altering her breath. But this man - with his boundless ambition, simmering intensity, and absolute faith in his political beliefs - is like no other. Yash has spent a lifetime repressing everything to succeed.

Including their one magical night ten years ago - a too brief, too bright passion that if rekindled threatens the life he’s crafted for himself. Exposing the secrets might be the only way to save him but it’s also guaranteed to destroy the dream he’s willingly shouldered for his family and community...until now."

And speaking of Jane Austen, if you're not reading Sonali Dev right now you are seriously missing out. 

Island Queen by Vanessa Riley
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 592 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A remarkable, sweeping historical novel based on the incredible true life story of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas, a free woman of color who rose from slavery to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful landowners in the colonial West Indies.

Born into slavery on the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat, Doll bought her freedom - and that of her sister and her mother - from her Irish planter father and built a legacy of wealth and power as an entrepreneur, merchant, hotelier, and planter that extended from the marketplaces and sugar plantations of Dominica and Barbados to a glittering luxury hotel in Demerara on the South American continent.

Vanessa Riley’s novel brings Doll to vivid life as she rises above the harsh realities of slavery and colonialism by working the system and leveraging the competing attentions of the men in her life: a restless shipping merchant, Joseph Thomas; a wealthy planter hiding a secret, John Coseveldt Cells; and a roguish naval captain who will later become King William IV of England.

From the bustling port cities of the West Indies to the forbidding drawing rooms of London’s elite, Island Queen is a sweeping epic of an adventurer and a survivor who answered to no one but herself as she rose to power and autonomy against all odds, defying rigid eighteenth-century morality and the oppression of women as well as people of color. It is an unforgettable portrait of a true larger-than-life woman who made her mark on history."

When Lauren Willig tells you you MUST read a book you do it. If you happen to be a blogger like me, you hunt down an ARC of it so you don't have to wait for the "must read book of summer!"

The Hollywood Spy by Susan Elia MacNeal
Published by: Bantam
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Maggie Hope is off to California to solve a crime that hits too close to home - and confront the very evil she thought she had left behind in Europe - as the acclaimed World War II mystery series from New York Times bestselling author Susan Elia MacNeal continues.

Los Angeles, 1943. As the Allies beat back the Nazis in the Mediterranean and the United States military slowly closes in on Tokyo, Walt Disney cranks out wartime propaganda and the Cocoanut Grove is alive with jazz and swing every night. But behind this sunny facade lies a darker reality. Somewhere in the lush foothills of Hollywood, a woman floats lifeless in the pool of one of California's trendiest hotels.

When American-born secret agent and British spy Maggie Hope learns that this woman was engaged to her former fiancee, John Sterling, and that he suspects her death was no accident, intuition tells her he's right. Leaving London under siege is a lot to ask. But John was once the love of Maggie's life...and she won't say no.

Maggie struggles with seeing her lost love again, but what's more shocking is that her own country is as divided and convulsed with hatred as Europe. The Zoot Suit Riots loom large in Los Angeles, and the Ku Klux Klan casts a long shadow everywhere. But there is little time to dwell on memories once she starts digging into the case. As she traces a web of deception from the infamous Garden of Allah to the iconic Carthay Circle Theater, she discovers things aren't always the way things appear in the movies - and the political situation in America is more complicated, and dangerous, than the newsreels would have them all believe."

I love this new trend for WWII novels to be set in Hollywood. Because, truthfully, there was A LOT going on out west the contributed to the war!

The View Was Exhausting by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta
Published by: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Faking a love story is a whole lot easier than being in love...

The world can see that international A-list actress Whitman ("Win") Tagore and jet-setting playboy Leo Milanowski are made for each other. Their kisses start Twitter trends and their fights break the internet. From red carpet appearances to Met Gala mishaps, their on-again, off-again romance has titillated the public and the press for almost a decade. But it's all a lie.

As a woman of color, Win knows the Hollywood deck is stacked against her, so she's perfected the art of controlling her public persona. Whenever she nears scandal, she calls in Leo, with his endearingly reckless attitude, for a staged date. Each public display of affection shifts the headlines back in Win's favor, and Leo uses the good press to draw attention away from his dysfunctional family.

Pretending to be in a passionate romance is one thing, but Win knows that a real relationship would lead to nothing but trouble. So instead they settle for friendship, with a side of sky-rocketing chemistry. Except this time, on the French Riviera, something is off. A shocking secret in Leo's past sets Win's personal and professional lives on a catastrophic collision course. Behind the scenes of their yacht-trips and PDA, the world's favorite couple is at each other's throats. Now they must finally confront the many truths and lies of their relationship, and Win is forced to consider what is more important: a rising career, or a risky shot at real love?

The View Was Exhausting is a funny, wickedly observant modern love story set against the backdrop of exotic locales and the realities of being a woman of color in a world run by men."

If, like me, you've been pissed about the cancellation of The Arrangement for years now, this here is the book to help salve the wound. 

Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood by Danny Trejo
Published by: Atria Books
Publication Date: July 6th, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"For the first time, the full, fascinating, and inspirational true story of Danny Trejo’s journey from crime, prison, addiction, and loss to unexpected fame as Hollywood’s favorite bad guy with a heart of gold.

On screen, Danny Trejo the actor is a baddie who has been killed at least a hundred times. He’s been shot, stabbed, hanged, chopped up, squished by an elevator, and once, was even melted into a bloody goo. Off screen, he’s a hero beloved by recovery communities and obsessed fans alike. But the real Danny Trejo is much more complicated than the legend.

Raised in an abusive home, Danny struggled with heroin addiction and stints in some of the country’s most notorious state prisons, including San Quentin and Folsom, from an early age, before starring in such modern classics as Heat, From Dusk till Dawn, and Machete. Now, in this funny, painful, and suspenseful memoir, Danny takes us through the incredible ups and downs of his life, including meeting one of the world’s most notorious serial killers in prison and working with legends like Charles Bronson and Robert De Niro.

In honest, unflinching detail, Danny recounts how he managed the horrors of prison, rebuilt himself after finding sobriety and spirituality in solitary confinement, and draws inspiration from the adrenaline-fueled robbing heists of his past for the film roles that made him a household name. He also shares the painful contradictions in his personal life. Although he speaks everywhere from prison yards to NPR about his past to inspire countless others on their own road to recovery and redemption, he struggles to help his children with their personal battles with addiction, and to build relationships that last.

Redemptive and painful, poignant and real, Trejo is a portrait of a magnificent life and an unforgettable and exceptional journey through tragedy, pain, and, finally, success that will transfix and inspire."

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Danny Trejo and in particular his cameo on last season of Dynasty? Because if not, here is your reminder. 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Danny Trejo, David Bell, Elizabeth Lim, Jane Austen, Juliet Blackwell, Kathy Reichs, Lauren Willig, Mrs. Radcliffe, Rainbow Rowell, Sonali Dev, Susan Elia MacNeal, The Arrangement, Tuesday Tomorrow, Vanessa Riley

I unabashedly adore Northanger Abbey. This is something that took me quite a long time to discover. I had actually never re-read Northanger Abbey after first reading it right after high school when I was too naive to get the Gothic parody aspect and therefore ranked it as Austen's worst novel. Older, and hopefully wiser, I reevaluted the novel and adored it for it's humor. And as for Henry Tilney? He instantly became my favorite Austen hero. Why? Because he is a fully rounded character, not some ideal. He has a sense of humor, he loves to read, and well, he's not perfect and somehow that makes him perfect. Which brings me to the masterful portrayal of Henry Tilney by J.J. Feild. In fact, I'm sure that my reconsideration of Henry was in no small part helped by J.J. There's only so much a book can do until you can affix a visual to a character, which is why I often dream cast books as I read them. I couldn't have done better than J.J. for Henry Tilney. The humor? The arch looks? He's perfection. He nails the comedy but he can combine it with pathos and stern censor yet all coming from the heart. He became my heartthrob. I've watched everything he's been in since, yes, even Captain America. I even tried my hardest to like TURN with his little rat tail, but even he couldn't elevate that show. But while I'll always point to Northanger Abbey as the true beginning of my crush, the zenith is Austenland. Though I do wonder if the little Gothic fantasies of Catherine might supersede the perfection of Austenland. These are not only hilarious, I think they are the key to the dramatization of Northanger Abbey. It's not just seeing Catherine actually dressed up as the heroine she wishes herself to be pursued by villains, it's that these overacted vignettes show perfectly her overactive imagination and how she is later able to suspect Henry's father of murder. What's more they perfectly capture the tone Austen was aiming for in her parodying of Gothic literature. Northanger Abbey was written from a place of mocking love, you can see Austen herself has read and devoured these novels from Mrs. Radcliffe and Lewis, how else could she know them so well to then poke fun of them? And J.J. as a "vampire?" Really, that's all I should need to say for this entire review, J.J. is a sexy vampire. The end.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Andrew Davies, Austenland, Captain America, Catherine Morland, Felicity Jones, Fifty Years a Masterpiece, Gothic, Henry Tilney, J.J. Feild, Jane Austen, Lewis, Mrs. Radcliffe, Northanger Abbey, Parody, TURN, Vampire

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Published by: Little Books Ltd
Publication Date: 1817
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Catherine Morland isn't like the Gothic heroines she loves to read about; her name is prosaic, she's a content and happy girl who could never think badly of anyone and is surrounded by a big family who love her. But more importantly, alas, she's never even been to a crumbling castle or monastery let alone to the South of France where she could be held hostage. Her first real adventure is when her kindly and wealthy neighbors, the Allens, invite Catherine to accompany them to Bath. Mrs. Allen views Bath in the first few days of their residence as rather boring as they have no acquaintances, but that is soon about to change. Catherine's first acquaintance is a Mr. Henry Tilney, a lovely young man who dances with her and disappears. Her second acquaintance appears as if she'll be around longer. Isabella Thorpe is the daughter of an old classmate of Mrs. Allen and they soon become fast friends. It transpires that Isabella's brother John is friends with Catherine's brother James, and soon Isabella is confiding her feelings for James to Catherine all while trying to get Catherine and John together. But despite just one night Catherine's heart already belongs to Henry Tilney. Luckily for her he soon returns to Bath, bringing along his sister Eleanor and his rather forbidding father. As is often the case with young girls battle lines are drawn, Isabella wants Catherine to be hers alone now that she has become engaged to James, yet Catherine is defiant and sticks to the Tilneys. In fact Catherine shortly leaves Bath with the Tilneys for their ancestral home, Northanger Abbey. All the complications of Bath are behind Catherine, but will she create her own obstacles in the Gothic surroundings of an old abbey that might thwart her and Henry's happily ever after? Or did the Thorpes already plan for her disappointment?

Northanger Abbey in my mind is unfairly the most maligned of Austen's novels. The reason is because it's not what people expect. It's not like her other books and I think that is precisely the reason it holds such a special place in my heart. Admittedly the first time I read it I was thrown, because being released after her death you think it will adhere more to her later works, whereas in truth because of when it was written it's more a transitional novel bridging the style of her juvenilia and her later work. Therefore it's only on subsequent re-reads that you can fully appreciate Northanger Abbey for what it is. This book is unbalanced, it's not perfect, but it so clearly shows what Austen will be capable of with her wry observational style in the first section of the book. Which is why so many people say the book gives them such hope only to fall apart. While the second half is weaker, it shows that she is capable of seeing her concept through to the end. Because Northanger Abbey was written as a parody of Gothic literature, so therefore she had to take it to it's logical conclusion of Catherine thinking laundry lists are secrets of the dead. As a parody it is a wonderful send-up of the popular literature of the time, but as proto-Austen the first half is a glimpse into the writer she will become. That this is what she will be known for. For her humor, for what she will become, for the feelings, all the feelings I have each time I re-read this book it is easily in my top three of Austen's six novels.

As for those feels? Oh. My. God. It's not like this is the first or second time I've read this book but once again I am sucked in and it's like I'm reading it for the first time. I know what happens and yet my anxiety was at such a level you can not imagine it. I was seriously convinced that Catherine wasn't going to get her "happily ever after" that has been happening now for TWO HUNDRED YEARS! Seriously, two hundred years and I felt like it was happening for the first time. My main source of anxiety isn't that her and Henry get together, it's that they get the chance to get together despite everything those detestable Thorpes throw in their way. Oh, how I hate those Thorpes. Yes, John Thorpe is horrid with all his monetary delusions with regard to the Morlands, and with his assumptions. Also, let's take a moment here to point out how little men have changed in two hundred years. The way he's talking about his horses, it's like listening to a guy at a bar five minutes ago detailing everything there is to know about his car that you never cared to know! But I forgive John, to an extent, because there is no doubt in my mind that everything he believes and does is controlled by his puppet master and sister, Isabella. Such a faux friend! She only befriends Catherine to get to closer to her brother James, and when that falls apart, gaw, she's just scheming and double crossing, and just a lying little bitch. She deserves all the ill that befalls her. In fact, I think she might just be my most hated character in all of Austen... huh, that's a revelation that Caroline Bingley isn't going to like.

But going into Catherine's mind and how she sees Isabella? That is truly painful. Because the truth is Catherine is a heroine more in the Disney sense, she's all goodness and light and can't imagine anyone being mean or duplicitous because she's never come across this before. Of course her eyes will be opened by the end of the book but what I find fascinating is that because she is so genuine if someone isn't the only conclusion she can reach is one straight off the pages of the Gothic novels she loves so much. The second half of Northanger Abbey deals with Catherine thinking that Henry's father killed his wife because Catherine doesn't have any foreknowledge about people who say one thing while meaning another. She gives General Tilney these dubious motives because its the only way she can understand how he makes her feel. General Tilney is all polite obsequiousness to Catherine, assuming she is a rich heiress due to the Allens. Yet while everything is so nice that comes out of his mouth she can't ignore that she doesn't like him. She has every reason to like him, logically, but she picks up on the fact that Henry and Eleanor are never happy around him and therefore he must be a murderer. She is naive but sweetly so, so you can see why Henry can forgive her for making someone who is two faced into a man capable of the worst horrors... but of course, he has nothing on the duplicity of Isabella! Scheming, money grubbing, false friend!

Thankfully Henry can forgive Catherine's overactive imagination. Because the truth is this, Henry Tilney is the perfect Austen man. Darcy, a bit haughty, Bingley, a bit naive, Brandon, a bit dour, Edward, a bit too secretive, Knightly, a bit too much of a pedo, Wentworth, a bit too stalwart, and Edmund, a bit too relative... whereas Henry? Henry in my humble opinion is the perfect man. Seriously, this isn't up for discussion. Just take this as fact. He is perfect. Perhaps it's because he's the most fleshed out of Austen's heroes, but there's just something about him that makes me think, yeah, he's the one for me. One reason is his sense of humor. Can you imagine say Darcy, Brandon, and Wentworth in a room together? Not a smile among them. Whereas Henry is self-deprecating, willing to see the humor in tense situations, and seriously, think about it, who wants to marry someone who they can't have a good laugh with. Though the part that truly melts my heart is when he tells Catherine that of course he reads! Due to that odious John Thorpe Catherine has come to the wrong conclusion that not only do men not read but that reading is silly. I'm sorry, but reading is not just the best way to live a richer life full of adventure, but it's been proven that it makes people more empathetic because they can put themselves in other people's shoes. The fact that Henry proudly proclaims that he's a reader? Melting again. Not just that, he's read all the books Catherine loves and is a huge Mrs. Radcliffe fan. Be still my heart... or the lumpy wet mass it now is since it melted.

Though the sad truth is I don't think everyone has fully embraced Henry or Catherine... because as I said before, this is the troublesome book among Austen fans. I think the real reason is actually the parody of the Gothic. When Austen first wrote Northanger Abbey Gothic novels were all the rage. In fact, with age bracket and the rabidness of the following, the Twilight franchise is comparable. So Gothic novels were the Twilight of the early 1800s. Now here comes a girl who's never written a book before and she decides to parody the books she loves and also loves to mock. While Gothic literature comes and goes, having a resurgence every now and then, there's never been that stranglehold on the public imagination that it had during Austen's life, especially with the works of Mrs. Radcliffe. So modern readers aren't tuned into what the book is parodying. I remember reading Vanity Fair years ago, which is a bit of a slog, because there are so many topical jokes. I distinctly remember getting one of the jokes, which was in reference to She Stoops to Conquer and I thought, think how much I'm not getting. This book might be uproarious to someone of the time or a historian of the time... Therefore the first time I read Northanger Abbey I, like most everyone else, just didn't get it. It's just a sub par Austen I incorrectly thought. Thankfully, unlike most, I wasn't going to swear off the book. When I read it a second time knowing more I realized I was a fool the first time. The way Austen even parodies the origin stories of heroines is spot on. Plus, it's totally meta! So in other words, read something Gothic then come back and read how Austen tells her version... it's a little snarky, but in my mind nearly perfect.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 2 comments  

Labels: Bath, Bicentenary Ball, Catherine Morland, Going Gothic, Gothic Literature, Henry Tilney, Heroes, Heroine, Jane Austen, Meta, Mrs. Radcliffe, Northanger Abbey, She Stoops to Conquer, The Twilight Saga, Vanity Fair

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Published by: Little Books Ltd
Publication Date: 1817
Format: Hardcover, 240 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)

Catherine Morland isn't like the Gothic heroines she loves to read about; her name is prosaic, she's a content and happy girl who could never think badly of anyone and is surrounded by a big family who love her. But more importantly, alas, she's never even been to a crumbling castle or monastery let alone to the South of France where she could be held hostage. Her first real adventure is when her kindly and wealthy neighbors, the Allens, invite Catherine to accompany them to Bath. Mrs. Allen views Bath in the first few days of their residence as rather boring as they have no acquaintances, but that is soon about to change. Catherine's first acquaintance is a Mr. Henry Tilney, a lovely young man who dances with her and disappears. Her second acquaintance appears as if she'll be around longer. Isabella Thorpe is the daughter of an old classmate of Mrs. Allen and they soon become fast friends. It transpires that Isabella's brother John is friends with Catherine's brother James, and soon Isabella is confiding her feelings for James to Catherine all while trying to get Catherine and John together. But despite just one night Catherine's heart already belongs to Henry Tilney. Luckily for her he soon returns to Bath, bringing along his sister Eleanor and his rather forbidding father. As is often the case with young girls battle lines are drawn, Isabella wants Catherine to be hers alone now that she has become engaged to James, yet Catherine is defiant and sticks to the Tilneys. In fact Catherine shortly leaves Bath with the Tilneys for their ancestral home, Northanger Abbey. All the complications of Bath are behind Catherine, but will she create her own obstacles in the Gothic surroundings of an old abbey that might thwart her and Henry's happily ever after? Or did the Thorpes already plan for her disappointment?

Northanger Abbey in my mind is unfairly the most maligned of Austen's novels. The reason is because it's not what people expect. It's not like her other books and I think that is precisely the reason it holds such a special place in my heart. Admittedly the first time I read it I was thrown, because being released after her death you think it will adhere more to her later works, whereas in truth because of when it was written it's more a transitional novel bridging the style of her juvenilia and her later work. Therefore it's only on subsequent re-reads that you can fully appreciate Northanger Abbey for what it is. This book is unbalanced, it's not perfect, but it so clearly shows what Austen will be capable of with her wry observational style in the first section of the book. Which is why so many people say the book gives them such hope only to fall apart. While the second half is weaker, it shows that she is capable of seeing her concept through to the end. Because Northanger Abbey was written as a parody of Gothic literature, so therefore she had to take it to it's logical conclusion of Catherine thinking laundry lists are secrets of the dead. As a parody it is a wonderful send-up of the popular literature of the time, but as proto-Austen the first half is a glimpse into the writer she will become. That this is what she will be known for. For her humor, for what she will become, for the feelings, all the feelings I have each time I re-read this book it is easily in my top three of Austen's six novels.

As for those feels? Oh. My. God. It's not like this is the first or second time I've read this book but once again I am sucked in and it's like I'm reading it for the first time. I know what happens and yet my anxiety was at such a level you can not imagine it. I was seriously convinced that Catherine wasn't going to get her "happily ever after" that has been happening now for TWO HUNDRED YEARS! Seriously, two hundred years and I felt like it was happening for the first time. My main source of anxiety isn't that her and Henry get together, it's that they get the chance to get together despite everything those detestable Thorpes throw in their way. Oh, how I hate those Thorpes. Yes, John Thorpe is horrid with all his monetary delusions with regard to the Morlands, and with his assumptions. Also, let's take a moment here to point out how little men have changed in two hundred years. The way he's talking about his horses, it's like listening to a guy at a bar five minutes ago detailing everything there is to know about his car that you never cared to know! But I forgive John, to an extent, because there is no doubt in my mind that everything he believes and does is controlled by his puppet master and sister, Isabella. Such a faux friend! She only befriends Catherine to get to closer to her brother James, and when that falls apart, gaw, she's just scheming and double crossing, and just a lying little bitch. She deserves all the ill that befalls her. In fact, I think she might just be my most hated character in all of Austen... huh, that's a revelation that Caroline Bingley isn't going to like.

But going into Catherine's mind and how she sees Isabella? That is truly painful. Because the truth is Catherine is a heroine more in the Disney sense, she's all goodness and light and can't imagine anyone being mean or duplicitous because she's never come across this before. Of course her eyes will be opened by the end of the book but what I find fascinating is that because she is so genuine if someone isn't the only conclusion she can reach is one straight off the pages of the Gothic novels she loves so much. The second half of Northanger Abbey deals with Catherine thinking that Henry's father killed his wife because Catherine doesn't have any foreknowledge about people who say one thing while meaning another. She gives General Tilney these dubious motives because its the only way she can understand how he makes her feel. General Tilney is all polite obsequiousness to Catherine, assuming she is a rich heiress due to the Allens. Yet while everything is so nice that comes out of his mouth she can't ignore that she doesn't like him. She has every reason to like him, logically, but she picks up on the fact that Henry and Eleanor are never happy around him and therefore he must be a murderer. She is naive but sweetly so, so you can see why Henry can forgive her for making someone who is two faced into a man capable of the worst horrors... but of course, he has nothing on the duplicity of Isabella! Scheming, money grubbing, false friend!

Thankfully Henry can forgive Catherine's overactive imagination. Because the truth is this, Henry Tilney is the perfect Austen man. Darcy, a bit haughty, Bingley, a bit naive, Brandon, a bit dour, Edward, a bit too secretive, Knightly, a bit too much of a pedo, Wentworth, a bit too stalwart, and Edmund, a bit too relative... whereas Henry? Henry in my humble opinion is the perfect man. Seriously, this isn't up for discussion. Just take this as fact. He is perfect. Perhaps it's because he's the most fleshed out of Austen's heroes, but there's just something about him that makes me think, yeah, he's the one for me. One reason is his sense of humor. Can you imagine say Darcy, Brandon, and Wentworth in a room together? Not a smile among them. Whereas Henry is self-deprecating, willing to see the humor in tense situations, and seriously, think about it, who wants to marry someone who they can't have a good laugh with. Though the part that truly melts my heart is when he tells Catherine that of course he reads! Due to that odious John Thorpe Catherine has come to the wrong conclusion that not only do men not read but that reading is silly. I'm sorry, but reading is not just the best way to live a richer life full of adventure, but it's been proven that it makes people more empathetic because they can put themselves in other people's shoes. The fact that Henry proudly proclaims that he's a reader? Melting again. Not just that, he's read all the books Catherine loves and is a huge Mrs. Radcliffe fan. Be still my heart... or the lumpy wet mass it now is since it melted.

Though the sad truth is I don't think everyone has fully embraced Henry or Catherine... because as I said before, this is the troublesome book among Austen fans. I think the real reason is actually the parody of the Gothic. When Austen first wrote Northanger Abbey Gothic novels were all the rage. In fact, with age bracket and the rabidness of the following, the Twilight franchise is comparable. So Gothic novels were the Twilight of the early 1800s. Now here comes a girl who's never written a book before and she decides to parody the books she loves and also loves to mock. While Gothic literature comes and goes, having a resurgence every now and then, there's never been that stranglehold on the public imagination that it had during Austen's life, especially with the works of Mrs. Radcliffe. So modern readers aren't tuned into what the book is parodying. I remember reading Vanity Fair years ago, which is a bit of a slog, because there are so many topical jokes. I distinctly remember getting one of the jokes, which was in reference to She Stoops to Conquer and I thought, think how much I'm not getting. This book might be uproarious to someone of the time or a historian of the time... Therefore the first time I read Northanger Abbey I, like most everyone else, just didn't get it. It's just a sub par Austen I incorrectly thought. Thankfully, unlike most, I wasn't going to swear off the book. When I read it a second time knowing more I realized I was a fool the first time. The way Austen even parodies the origin stories of heroines is spot on. Plus, it's totally meta! So in other words, read something Gothic then come back and read how Austen tells her version... it's a little snarky, but in my mind nearly perfect.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Bath, Catherine Morland, Going Gothic, Gothic Literature, Henry Tilney, Heroes, Heroine, Jane Austen, Meta, Mrs. Radcliffe, Northanger Abbey, She Stoops to Conquer, The Twilight Saga, Vanity Fair

The Master of Heathcrest Hall (Mrs. Quent Book 3) by Galen Beckett
Published by: Spectra
Publication Date: March 27th, 2012
Format: Paperback, 736 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Night and day start and stop when they wish. No almanac can predict the umbrals and lumenals. The red planet Cerephus grows brighter in the sky, easily seen during even the sunniest of lumenals. Despite all evidence to the contrary a grand conjunction looks imminent in the heavens. Ivy is convinced that she and Rafferdy have stopped the Ashen by trapping Gambrel behind one of the doors in the house on Durrow Street, but there is an ominous warning, "when twelve who wander stand as one, through the door the dark will come." Ivy is also plagued by dreams, dark and prophetic during the umbrals and the man called the black stork has visited again, warning her that the Ashen, the first ones, the ancients, the darkness between the stars are coming and they are hungry. But what is Ivy to do? She is pregnant and stuck in Invarel, unable to do much but read. One book in particular, The Towers of Ardaunto, might hold the key. While a seemingly lurid Gothic romance, Ivy is quickly convinced that it is actually about something much more. She thinks it is about her husband's childhood friend, Ashaydea, who was transformed into the White Thorn, the blade of the king's black dog. When Ivy learns the book was written by one of her father's fellow magicians she realizes that perhaps she misjudged some of the members of her father's magical order. Perhaps they are not all evil? Especially as these members are being killed for something they all possess.

The world is changing outside Ivy's windows as her confinement is enforced. The king has died and there is a lot of hemming and hawing about placing the crown on the head of his daughter. Any woman could be a witch these days, so can she be trusted? With the arrival of Huntley Morden on the shores of Altania the king's black dog, Lord Valhaine, uses the situation to his advantage, incarcerating the princess and seizing control for himself, casting down the crown. But Lord Valhaine is in thrall to Gambrel's High Order of the Golden Door and he will do their bidding, preparing the world for the arrival of the Ashen. Invarel devolves into a police state, with the government waging war against all of Altania, from it's people to it's Wyrdwood. The university is shuttered, knowledge is dangerous, magic even more so. Those who can are fleeing to their country estates, for those who must remain there are privations. Revolts are a regular occurrence, troops are everywhere, and The Theatre of the Moon is forced to remain open, entertaining the troops baser instincts. The puppet government starts to turn against those previously loyal to the crown and Mr. Quent is sent to prison. His death is one of many that will happen before the war ends, because it is war. Rafferdy joins Huntley Morden, Eldyn aids the rebellion, the two old friends now comrades in arms. But it's Ivy and her power that might save Altania. Ivy and a White Thorn.

There are books that you fall into and never want to leave. Yes, you NEED to know how it all turns out, but at the same time you're trying to think of ways to actually hide yourself in the pages of the narrative like Thursday Next and ignore the fact that there is an end in sight and you're getting closer to it each day. Just skimming The Master of Heathcrest Hall for this review was a dangerous task, I felt myself being pulled back into the story. I had to forcefully remind myself again and again that I had a job to do, and that job was to convert others to this series so that we can all go and live there together. Perhaps a little cottage just down from Heathcrest Hall? That would do me just fine. We can make our own subdivision of real people in this fictional world! The world that Galen Beckett has created is just as real to me as that created by J.K. Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkien and George R.R. Martin. I know I will think about it often and long for times when I can dip into the pages again. But while I was reading it I had one major concern, and that was the safety of all these friends that I held dear and whether they would make it out alive, but more importantly, get their HEA. For a book with such great dangers and magical destructive forces that kill many it might seem unrealistic that everyone gets a HEA. But you know what I say? Who cares! This is fantasy, this is magic, this is the way I want all my books to end. Everyone ends up with love in their lives and a place in the world! What better ending is there?

One aspect of this volume that I wasn't so sure of at first was Ivy's prophetic dreams of prehistoric Altania. It felt like The Clan of the Cave Bear with magicians, but not in any fun and cool mashup. I think the reason I didn't at first like this plot contrivance was that it felt a little hokey doing this as a cold open for the book. The reader needed to be reconnected to Ivy before being shoved into her subconscious. Once the "dream" was more integrated into the plot I really started to like it. I started analyzing the dream for significance. Of course Galen does tie it all in together seamlessly in the end, I still think it needed a better initial set up. Because what this dream is really about is tying Ivy to her lineage. Forging a connection to all the witches that came before her. Basically, she's Buffy meeting the First Slayer, the Primitive. Think how long it was on Buffy the Vampire Slayer before we got into this mythos? Four long seasons. The episode that reveals the Primitive, "Restless," is one of the best pieces of television writing ever. We are shown dreams that are obviously connected to each member of the Scooby Gang that work there way to the reveal of the Primitive. Yes, Galen has forged a connection between us and Ivy, but that connection needs to be reestablished before diving headfirst into the mythos of this world. In fact, I think this slightly awkward opening is the only thing I can take issue with in this book.

What Galen does do seamlessly is continue expanding the magical system of his world. While there are the three set "categories" of magic with Magician, Witch, and Illusionist, he starts adding in people that fit between these hard and fast definitions. The most obvious is seen with Ivy's sister Rose. Rose isn't a witch, not being a descendant from any famous line like Ivy is, but she isn't without abilities. Rose sees colors. Perhaps they are only colors of magical people, because that is all she does see, but who knows? Anyone else want a spin off for Rose? It's clear that she is able to see the health and vibrancy of Ivy's unborn son, and it's Rose who realizes that Ivy has miscarried because the color is gone. But more importantly Rose answers the question that has been plaguing her family for years. She figures out how their father lost his mind. He didn't lose it so much as transfer his mind into the house on Durrow Street, giving it his consciousness and therefore protecting what was inside the house. He looks through the wooden eyes, he watches over his family. In fact Rose is able to see where he is in the house because his color appears, and she is even able to communicate with him. I love that Rose has this ability, not just because it shows the range of worldbuilding that Galen went to, but because it takes Ivy's sisters from being just background scenery from a Jane Austen novel and makes them integral to the plot.

But above and beyond all these magical "categories" there is Lady Shayde, she who was Ashaydea, Mr. Quent's childhood friend. I CAN NOT stress how enamored I was by her character development, because once again Galen shows that in his world, while men are important, the women are the true power. Lady Shayde at first defies explanation, she is a product of magic but something more, something unique, a tool that was created, but a creation in which she was complicit. She is the most feared of all and in fact if it wasn't for her, evil and Gambrel would not have been vanquished and the Ashen would have won. But what's so unique and provocative about the way Galen tells her story is it's with a story within a story. Ivy discovers the book, The Towers of Ardaunto, and she realizes over time that it's not just a lurid Gothic romance, but a bleak story about the making of a White Thorn. At first Ivy thinks that it was the book that gave the magician Mr. Bennick the idea to make Lady Shayde, but she eventually realizes that this is in fact the reverse. Another of her father's magical circle wrote The Towers of Ardaunto after knowing the story of Ashaydea. Shivers. Literally. Like The Tales of Beedle the Bard but written by Mrs. Radcliffe or Charlotte Bronte. In fact, is there anyway I could like read all of The Towers of Ardaunto? I'm not joking. The excerpts made me NEED this book in my life as well.

What was most powerful in this story though was the use of photography. Yes, it's not really "photography" and is an image captured by an illusionist and then projected onto a plate and printed, but it's basically the magical equivalent of a technology we are familiar with. What is so powerful is that Eldyn aids the rebellion more than anyone else by documenting the truth with his "impressions." Because an impression captured by an illusionist can not lie. Like photography before Photoshop, think how much of history, of The Truth, was brought to the masses through photographs? Words are well and good, but an image is literally worth a thousand words. Eldyn's capturing of the soldiers attacking students helps to shift the feelings about the government. The government says one thing, but here's a picture showing it as it happened so you can decide for yourself what the truth actually is. Being able to see an unadulterated image aids in the dissemination of knowledge. This new medium isn't just revolutionary, it aids the revolution. As an artist I love how Galen has, in a fantasy world, shown how an artistic medium has literally changed worlds. Yes, this might be fantasy, but fantasy reflects us and our society and our world. Therefore whenever people say they don't like a certain genre, I say give it a chance. Who knows what kind of book will reflect something back to you and perhaps open you mind.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charlotte Bronte, Galen Beckett, Gothic, Illusionist, Magic, Magicians, Mrs. Radcliffe, Photography, Regency Magic, The Magicians and Mrs. Quent, The Master of Heathcrest Hall, Witches

The Master of Heathcrest Hall (Mrs. Quent Book 3) by Galen Beckett
Published by: Spectra
Publication Date: March 27th, 2012
Format: Paperback, 736 Pages
Rating: ★★★★★
To Buy

Night and day start and stop when they wish. No almanac can predict the umbrals and lumenals. The red planet Cerephus grows brighter in the sky, easily seen during even the sunniest of lumenals. Despite all evidence to the contrary a grand conjunction looks imminent in the heavens. Ivy is convinced that she and Rafferdy have stopped the Ashen by trapping Gambrel behind one of the doors in the house on Durrow Street, but there is an ominous warning, "when twelve who wander stand as one, through the door the dark will come." Ivy is also plagued by dreams, dark and prophetic during the umbrals and the man called the black stork has visited again, warning her that the Ashen, the first ones, the ancients, the darkness between the stars are coming and they are hungry. But what is Ivy to do? She is pregnant and stuck in Invarel, unable to do much but read. One book in particular, The Towers of Ardaunto, might hold the key. While a seemingly lurid Gothic romance, Ivy is quickly convinced that it is actually about something much more. She thinks it is about her husband's childhood friend, Ashaydea, who was transformed into the White Thorn, the blade of the king's black dog. When Ivy learns the book was written by one of her father's fellow magicians she realizes that perhaps she misjudged some of the members of her father's magical order. Perhaps they are not all evil? Especially as these members are being killed for something they all possess.

The world is changing outside Ivy's windows as her confinement is enforced. The king has died and there is a lot of hemming and hawing about placing the crown on the head of his daughter. Any woman could be a witch these days, so can she be trusted? With the arrival of Huntley Morden on the shores of Altania the king's black dog, Lord Valhaine, uses the situation to his advantage, incarcerating the princess and seizing control for himself, casting down the crown. But Lord Valhaine is in thrall to Gambrel's High Order of the Golden Door and he will do their bidding, preparing the world for the arrival of the Ashen. Invarel devolves into a police state, with the government waging war against all of Altania, from it's people to it's Wyrdwood. The university is shuttered, knowledge is dangerous, magic even more so. Those who can are fleeing to their country estates, for those who must remain there are privations. Revolts are a regular occurrence, troops are everywhere, and The Theatre of the Moon is forced to remain open, entertaining the troops baser instincts. The puppet government starts to turn against those previously loyal to the crown and Mr. Quent is sent to prison. His death is one of many that will happen before the war ends, because it is war. Rafferdy joins Huntley Morden, Eldyn aids the rebellion, the two old friends now comrades in arms. But it's Ivy and her power that might save Altania. Ivy and a White Thorn.

There are books that you fall into and never want to leave. Yes, you NEED to know how it all turns out, but at the same time you're trying to think of ways to actually hide yourself in the pages of the narrative like Thursday Next and ignore the fact that there is an end in sight and you're getting closer to it each day. Just skimming The Master of Heathcrest Hall for this review was a dangerous task, I felt myself being pulled back into the story. I had to forcefully remind myself again and again that I had a job to do, and that job was to convert others to this series so that we can all go and live there together. Perhaps a little cottage just down from Heathcrest Hall? That would do me just fine. We can make our own subdivision of real people in this fictional world! The world that Galen Beckett has created is just as real to me as that created by J.K. Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkien and George R.R. Martin. I know I will think about it often and long for times when I can dip into the pages again. But while I was reading it I had one major concern, and that was the safety of all these friends that I held dear and whether they would make it out alive, but more importantly, get their HEA. For a book with such great dangers and magical destructive forces that kill many it might seem unrealistic that everyone gets a HEA. But you know what I say? Who cares! This is fantasy, this is magic, this is the way I want all my books to end. Everyone ends up with love in their lives and a place in the world! What better ending is there?

One aspect of this volume that I wasn't so sure of at first was Ivy's prophetic dreams of prehistoric Altania. It felt like The Clan of the Cave Bear with magicians, but not in any fun and cool mashup. I think the reason I didn't at first like this plot contrivance was that it felt a little hokey doing this as a cold open for the book. The reader needed to be reconnected to Ivy before being shoved into her subconscious. Once the "dream" was more integrated into the plot I really started to like it. I started analyzing the dream for significance. Of course Galen does tie it all in together seamlessly in the end, I still think it needed a better initial set up. Because what this dream is really about is tying Ivy to her lineage. Forging a connection to all the witches that came before her. Basically, she's Buffy meeting the First Slayer, the Primitive. Think how long it was on Buffy the Vampire Slayer before we got into this mythos? Four long seasons. The episode that reveals the Primitive, "Restless," is one of the best pieces of television writing ever. We are shown dreams that are obviously connected to each member of the Scooby Gang that work there way to the reveal of the Primitive. Yes, Galen has forged a connection between us and Ivy, but that connection needs to be reestablished before diving headfirst into the mythos of this world. In fact, I think this slightly awkward opening is the only thing I can take issue with in this book.

What Galen does do seamlessly is continue expanding the magical system of his world. While there are the three set "categories" of magic with Magician, Witch, and Illusionist, he starts adding in people that fit between these hard and fast definitions. The most obvious is seen with Ivy's sister Rose. Rose isn't a witch, not being a descendant from any famous line like Ivy is, but she isn't without abilities. Rose sees colors. Perhaps they are only colors of magical people, because that is all she does see, but who knows? Anyone else want a spin off for Rose? It's clear that she is able to see the health and vibrancy of Ivy's unborn son, and it's Rose who realizes that Ivy has miscarried because the color is gone. But more importantly Rose answers the question that has been plaguing her family for years. She figures out how their father lost his mind. He didn't lose it so much as transfer his mind into the house on Durrow Street, giving it his consciousness and therefore protecting what was inside the house. He looks through the wooden eyes, he watches over his family. In fact Rose is able to see where he is in the house because his color appears, and she is even able to communicate with him. I love that Rose has this ability, not just because it shows the range of worldbuilding that Galen went to, but because it takes Ivy's sisters from being just background scenery from a Jane Austen novel and makes them integral to the plot.

But above and beyond all these magical "categories" there is Lady Shayde, she who was Ashaydea, Mr. Quent's childhood friend. I CAN NOT stress how enamored I was by her character development, because once again Galen shows that in his world, while men are important, the women are the true power. Lady Shayde at first defies explanation, she is a product of magic but something more, something unique, a tool that was created, but a creation in which she was complicit. She is the most feared of all and in fact if it wasn't for her, evil and Gambrel would not have been vanquished and the Ashen would have won. But what's so unique and provocative about the way Galen tells her story is it's with a story within a story. Ivy discovers the book, The Towers of Ardaunto, and she realizes over time that it's not just a lurid Gothic romance, but a bleak story about the making of a White Thorn. At first Ivy thinks that it was the book that gave the magician Mr. Bennick the idea to make Lady Shayde, but she eventually realizes that this is in fact the reverse. Another of her father's magical circle wrote The Towers of Ardaunto after knowing the story of Ashaydea. Shivers. Literally. Like The Tales of Beedle the Bard but written by Mrs. Radcliffe or Charlotte Bronte. In fact, is there anyway I could like read all of The Towers of Ardaunto? I'm not joking. The excerpts made me NEED this book in my life as well.

What was most powerful in this story though was the use of photography. Yes, it's not really "photography" and is an image captured by an illusionist and then projected onto a plate and printed, but it's basically the magical equivalent of a technology we are familiar with. What is so powerful is that Eldyn aids the rebellion more than anyone else by documenting the truth with his "impressions." Because an impression captured by an illusionist can not lie. Like photography before Photoshop, think how much of history, of The Truth, was brought to the masses through photographs? Words are well and good, but an image is literally worth a thousand words. Eldyn's capturing of the soldiers attacking students helps to shift the feelings about the government. The government says one thing, but here's a picture showing it as it happened so you can decide for yourself what the truth actually is. Being able to see an unadulterated image aids in the dissemination of knowledge. This new medium isn't just revolutionary, it aids the revolution. As an artist I love how Galen has, in a fantasy world, shown how an artistic medium has literally changed worlds. Yes, this might be fantasy, but fantasy reflects us and our society and our world. Therefore whenever people say they don't like a certain genre, I say give it a chance. Who knows what kind of book will reflect something back to you and perhaps open you mind.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charlotte Bronte, Galen Beckett, Gothic, Illusionist, Magic, Magicians, Mrs. Radcliffe, Photography, Regency Magic, The Magicians and Mrs. Quent, The Master of Heathcrest Hall, Witches