A Book Review: Anna and the French Kiss

Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Genre: Contemporary YA
Length: 372

Quality Rating: 8
Content Rating: PG-13

I don't usually read romance novels, YA or otherwise, but Anna and the French Kiss is about an Atlantan in Paris. As an Atlantan who spent a semester in France, I couldn't really resist--and I'm glad I didn't. This debut novel was addicting. I simply couldn't put it down. I fell in love with Etienne St. Clair, though honestly who wouldn't. Minus his one huge flaw (he has a girlfriend--which is revealed at the very beginning so not giving anything away here), he's too perfect. I mean the boy is a British French American. He's handsome with a British accent and a bright future. What teenage girl wouldn't want that? The big flaw helps make St. Clair a little more realistic. Without it, I probably would have not enjoyed the book as much, for no one should be perfect. Anna, our MC, also isn't perfect. Through the book she does more than crush on St. Clair. She explores Paris, has problems with her parents, her brother, her best friend. She learns and grows. In the end she is a different person from the beginning--regardless of whether any romance happens with St. Clair. And really that's what I look for in a romance. That our MC at the end isn't some sappy, ready to kill herself Juliet, but is instead a strong woman--strong with or without the guy.

Honestly, it's been a very long time since I enjoyed a romance book this much, YA or otherwise. And I highly recommend it.

This book gets a PG-13 rating for some intense romance. Definitely not a middle school book. However, there is no sex, for parents who might be concerned about that.

A Book Review: Side Jobs

Title: Side Jobs
Author: Jim Butcher
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 418

Quality Rating: 9
Content Rating: R

Read First: The Dresden Files (all of them, starting with Storm Front)

The Dresden Files is a series of books that fell in the blackhole of last year, meaning when I read a ton of books and didn't write reviews for any of them. Side Jobs is actually a book of short stories about Harry Dresden (the main character). I don't usually write book reviews for anthologies I read, but I thought this would be the exception. Really instead of writing a book review of side jobs, I'm writing a book review for the entire Dresden Files series.

So how do I sum up the Dresden Files? Intense. Uber intense. Harry Dresden is a PI in Chicago, a PI who also happens to be a wizard (and advertises that he is). What starts out as a series about Harry's random and unrelated cases escalates into an all out war between the wizards and well...another group (I don't want to give it away).

The Dresden Files is almost non-stop action. Seriously. It's to the point where I get stressed out reading the books. When Harry finally gets a break to talk to Michael or Thomas, I feel like I'm getting a break. When Harry is winded, I feel winded. It's extremely intense.

Vampires actually do play a major role in The Dresden Files (this will be to the surprise of my friends, who know I despise vampires). However, I can deal with them for the most part, since they're more like Dracula (as in evil and not sparkly--with the exception of Thomas, who almost convinces me that sexy, good vampires can exist. Almost.)

So if you want a series of high action, mystery, intense emotions, betrayals, conspiracies, mind control, monsters, love (romantic, parental, platonic, and brotherly), and secrets, then I recommend The Dresden Files.

As for the content rating, I have to go to R because of the intense and realistic violence. We're not just talking about swords. We're talking about guns. Bazookas. And the occasional clove of garlic. The Dresden Files also has demons--like of the Biblical sort, which earns it R points because demons really just freak me out. It also has some pretty intense sexual scenes. Not a lot, (as Dresden himself occasionally laments) but enough that I would not recommend it for our younger readers. However, I definitely recommend it for the older ones. That is, if you can stomach three different types of vampire.

Main Characters

In recent posting we've been discussing the beginning evolution of a story, or how a story springs into mind and develops. We've talked about the chaotic inception that happens in my mind, we've talked about the needed formula, and we've talked about world building. That leaves two other aspects of our formula: characters and conflict. Furthermore, I feel its important to divide characters up into three more categories: main characters, villains, and secondary characters. In this post, we'll focus on main characters.

Most of the time, a main character is the first thing I think of after the initial Question. Sometimes its just an image of the main character doing something. Sometimes its a comment that the main character will make. And sometimes its an action. With Spirit Riddled and Jess it was definitely an action. But the funny thing was Jess wasn't inspired by an action that actually happens in Spirit Riddled. The first thing I imagined the character that would be Jess doing actually takes place much later, in a sequel.

I created the story of Spirit Riddled during one of the most interesting summers of my life. I was in Toulouse, France living with a French family. Every day was an adventure. Around every corner was something exciting and inspiring. But Jess wasn't inspired by my magical surroundings. She was inspired by my older sister, back home, who decided she was going to contact her biological father.

Now a bit of backstory. I have three siblings; I am Three of Four*. My older siblings have a different biological father from me, but two years before I was born, my dad adopted them. I didn't know any of this until I was in eighth grade. Up to that point, I thought we all had the same parents. When I learned about it, it didn't change anything for me. But when I was a senior in high school my brother decided he wanted to contact this man who voluntarily gave him up. Two years later, my older sister did the same.

I was mad. Really really really mad, when my older sister did this. She had spent the past two years saying my brother was stupid, that he was breaking up our family, and then she went in did the same. I didn't understand. I still don't understand. All I could think was why would you want to find a man who gave you up? I was born to my father, and that's awesome. He loves me, and I love him. But my siblings? My father CHOSE them. He didn't have to have them. He didn't have to love him. There was no biological imperative and he loves them anyway. They've treated him like crap in the past couple of years, and he loves them anyway unconditionally. And he chose it. How beautiful is that? How awesome is that? And wouldn't it be nice for once if someone was actually freaking grateful for that?

And thus was born Jess. I pictured this action, this choice she would have at some point. At some point the man who took her in (Mage, who we've discussed before) is going to ask "I chose you. Can't that be enough?" And instead of crying that no it isn't enough, or instead of running back to the man who abandoned her Jess is simply going to say "Yes."

Aha! Did you catch that? Jess wasn't just invented there. So was Mage. The two were invented together. Weird. It sometimes just happens like that. But Jess and Mage are an inseparable duo in my mind and in the story (well...until Jess grows up and marries---never mind. No spoilers. :)

Anyway, when Jess was created, Mage was created simultaneously, and the two were created to compliment and strengthen each other. And in turn their creation helped create their world, since Jess and Mage are the two "demon-possessed" we are following. The villains (or really antagonists) were created in reaction to Jess and Mage to create conflict, and the villains definitely shape the world as we will see in the next post

*Yes, that is my Borg designation. Yes, my mind really does think like that. And yes, my mom is a Trekkie so its kind of appropriate.

A Book Review: Towers of Midnight (Wheel of Time Book #13)

Title: Towers of Midnight
Author: Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Fantasy (epic...like the definition of epic)
Length: 843

Quality Rating: 9
Content Rating: PG-13

Read First: The entire Wheel of Time, starting with The Eye of the World and ending with The Gathering Storm

This is another book I read a while back but completely forgot to review, like Mockingjay; however, unlike Mockingjay this isn't because Towers of Midnight wasn't awesome. The Towers of Midnight was 100% awesome. My only critique was I got a little confused about the timelines. Rand's storyline is taking place at a very very different time from Perrin's, which I could tell because Tam al'Thor was in both...when he couldn't be. This made me confused as to when Mat's storyline was taking place. I'm not really sure I got closure on that front at all. However, there was lots of closure on other parts of the book. Can I just say I totally called it about Galad (not saying what--no spoilers) and that I KNOW WHO KILLED ASMODEAN. Though that last bit was totally a let down. I didn't even realize it was revealed until someone later posted about it on Brandon Sanderson's facebook page. (Yes, I'm a Brandon Sanderson stalker. Don't judge me. lol) However, it's totally in the Glossary--for those of you who want to sneak a peak. Anyway, back on topic. Brandon Sanderson has once again fulfilled all of my Wheel of Time dreams. I have great hopes for A Memory of Light and can't wait!

Like all of Wheel of Time books, this one gets a PG-13 rating for fantasy violence. I started reading Wheel of Time at 11, and it didn't scar me for life at all, so I recommend it for readers from middle school all the way up. For realz. My parents and I both read this series and have bonded over it a lot in the past decade. And in case you can't tell, I "heart" the Wheel of Time.

World Building

Yes, finally, the long awaited post on World Building. I hope you aren't highly anticipating it, because I'm not sure it can live up to that sort of expectation.

So World Building...what is it? It's basically creating your setting. In the fantasy genre, this is literally building a new world. However, even literary and contemporary stories have a setting. The setting includes things like the local school, nearby stores, businesses, etc. However, I mainly write fantasy, so we'll focus on the fantasy genre world building.

So using the example of Spirit Riddled, how did I create the world? Well the world was hidden in the question: "What if people with magic were viewed as demon possessed, sort of like the Salem Witch Trials, rather than seen as a higher class in society?" The core of the society is in that question: a society that views people with magic as demon possessed. This brings up several other aspects of the world. In order to have demons, the world must have some sort of religion. So now we need a religion and a clergy that push this belief that magic is evil. So what happens to these demon possessed people? Do we just decapitate them immediately? Hmm...well that would not be much of a story (see we're thinking about Conflict and Plot here as we world build), so we need a religion that does not want you to directly kill these evil demons (unlike the Salem Witch Trials). But they still need some sort of trial. Some way to purify them....like abandoning them and leaving them to their Creator's will. So where do these abandoned go? Well now we need to create some sort of undersociety, thieves, murderers, criminals. Where we have criminals we need people to fight them--like a guard or police. To have a guard or police we need a government.

See how this works? Think about one aspect of society leads to another. Everything is related to create a society where people with magic are evil.

The question doesn't always lead to a world, as is the case with my new story about Joshua. However, sometimes I just get a really good idea for a world. In this case, in the back of my mind had been sitting a world without any characters, without any plot. A world Joshua became perfect for.

I don't want to give away the details of the world, but there are a couple of points to be kept in mind when creating a fantasy world.

1. You don't want it to be cliche. Most fantasy worlds take place in a medieval environment. Change it up a bit. Think about other time periods.
2. Technology, technology, technology. Make sure its consistent. You can change the way technology develops--allowing certain things to develop before others. But you need to think about it. You don't need to be a technology expert, but just remember: you don't get interchangeable parts from blacksmiths.
3. Location. How do you make your fantasy world not cliche? Maybe you shouldn't place it in the equivalent of England. Where do you live? Maybe your fantasy world should take place in the fantasy equivalent of Colorado. For a unique fantasy environment, I recommend Brent Week's Night Angel Trilogy. It's certainly not in England anymore.
4. Clothing. Seriously. Clothing should not be overlooked. This can help make your world unique. Maybe it does take place in England, but in an England with an Indian culture. So you're people are wearing saris or dhoti.
5. Government. There are many types of government in the world, and you're not even limited to what actually works in our world. Take two governments and mush them together. Be creative. Look at ancient governments like Republican Rome, Greece, Carthage, China, Egypt, and even Biblical governments.
   
6. Religion. You can't really ignore it. All societies on Earth created some sort of religion. It doesn't have to be central to your story, but religion affects the way your characters think and behave. Even if your characters don't believe the religion, the fact they live in a society with that religion in it, will affect them. Fantasy writers can't really get away with ignoring religion. If you want to ignore it, write SF.
7. Culture. How do men treat women? Are they equal? Different? Does your society have distinct classes? Or is everyone equal? How do they treat their elders? Their children? This can and will tie into both religion and government. Everything is connected and that's the way it should be.

Really this is all to say you should just think about your setting, your world, your society.

Take the time. Make a story bible. Think about it. And make your world unique.

A Book Review: Mockingjay

Title: Mockingjay
Author: Suzanne Collins
Genre: Dystopian (YA)
Length: 398

Quality Rating: 8
Content Rating: PG-13

Read First: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire *

When I was pulling books out of my shelf to write all the reviews I've meant to write since Christmas, I realized I had not written a review of Mockingjay, despite the fact it is the finale of The Hunger Games series, the conclusion to the only book I've ever given a Perfect 10 on this blog. How could I forgot this book? How could I have overlooked it? Well there are two very good reasons for that.

1. School started, and when school starts all other aspects of my life suffer.
   
2. It wasn't amazing.

Not amazing? You might be incredulous at that. How can the finale of The Hunger Games be not amazing? Well, part of it was that The Hunger Games (book one, not the series) was amazing. Nothing could really live up to that. It's sort of like comparing A Wind in the Door to A Wrinkle in Time. A Wind in the Door is good, but after A Wrinkle in Time, it just seems less. However, it was more than just comparing it to a legend that made this finale seem less. The Hunger Games was a very focused book. It was about Katniss and her experience. And that worked. It was amazing. However, since all these books are in first person, it is still just about Katniss in the finale. But somehow it didn't feel like Katniss's perspective could cover the true depth of what was happening. At times, I felt confused. I wasn't sure what was happening, and didn't realize a character had died until pages later. The ending was beautiful and poignant, but somehow this finale was a disappointment. I want finales to be better than the first book. A series should build up to the climax of that last book, in a Battle of Hogwarts scale of epic-ness. Instead sometimes the last book doesn't hit the mark, and a final book can make or break the series. I won't say Mockingjay broke the series and will still highly recommend these books to everyone. However, after The Hunger Games, it was a little disappointing.

Mockingjay gets the same PG-13 rating as the rest of the series for lots and lots of violence. If you could handle the first two books, you can handle this one. Though be prepared for deaths that mean something to you. I'm not just talking random kids in the arena. We're talking Fred Weasley type deaths. People you care about. (But clearly not Fred Weasley, as he died way before the events of The Hunger Games.)

*So I realized that I should include this "Read First" section in my reviews, because it might be hard to tell sometimes when a book isn't the first book in a series. I don't want someone to accidentally pick up Mockingjay and be incredibly confused because they didn't read The Hunger Games. So in future book reviews, I'll include this section that lists the books that should be read before the book we're reviewing. And I'll list them in the order they should be read. I'll also link it to previous reviews. Hopefully this will minimize confusion.

Not Today

Ok, ok. I lied. No post on World Building today. Instead of crafting a post I got lost in North Druid Hills, returned a rental car to the airport, went to class, and got groceries. This is what happens when you've been gone for a week, your roommate's car breaks down, and you have to return a minivan.

But next week you will get posts. I promise.