I'm taking a little break from blogging this week while I focus on some personal writing - I'm finally beginning the arduous process of reading and revising the novel I wrote last November for NaNoWriMo! So expect quiet here this week and stayed tuned for next - I have a little something special planned.

Review: Terrier

I recently realized that I've never reviewed a Tamora Pierce book on arch thinking before. I find this so surprising, as I have been a big fan of hers since I was a kid. I think I first read Alanna when I was 11 or so (it was published in 1983, but I'm not so old that I read it when it first came out!) and I have faithfully read all of her Tortall books* in the years since, most of them multiple times. Does this make me a big geek? Oh, probably. =)


Terrier is the first book in Pierce's newest series set in Tortall, set about 200 years before the events in Alanna. Told in journal form, its the story of Beka Cooper, training to be one of the Provost's Guards.

In 246 H.E., the Provost's Dogs guard Tortall's capital city. Beka Cooper is one of the newest trainees - a Puppy wet behind the ears but eager to learn. But Beka will have to learn faster than she bargained for because she's assigned to the Lower City, Corus's toughest district. It's filled with pickpockets who are fast as lightening, rogues who will knock your teeth out with a smile, and murderers with hidden plans. In the constant battle for the Lower City's streets, Beka will have to use her smarts and her own eerie brand of magic if she hopes to survive.

I first read Terrier when it came out in paperback originally and I read it again recently. I needed a little comfort food reading and I grabbed this one off the shelf.

I really like Beka. She's a good character to spend time with and, especially since it is told in the form of her journal, the reader gets to feel very close with her.

Some aspects of Terrier didn't really ring true for me, though. I'm pretty critical of journal-style or epistolary novels - its very hard to authentically be in that voice and yet tell the story as it needs to be told. Pierce does a great job, but there's a little more dialogue than I think would actually be in a journal. And the snippet of Beka's mother's journal at the beginning felt very inauthentic (I just can't really see a barely literate, impoverished woman keeping a journal).

Complaints aside, I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Bloodhound (which comes out in paperback in May!).

Buy Terrier (The Legend of Beka Cooper, Book 1) on Amazon.

* I don't read her Circle books - they're a little young, even for me.

The Great Unsung YA 2010 Giveaway

Kelly of YAnnabe has just launched a huge giveaway - The Great Unsung YA 2010 Giveaway! She's giving away copies of 10 of the top 12 most obscure picks from Unsung YA 2010, including my pick, Year of the Horse. So get on over there, and enter for a chance to win!

Review: Graceling

After hearing so much praise for Graceling by Kristin Cashore ever since it was published, I was thrilled to finally start reading it. I tore through this book in just a few days, eager to know what would happen.

From the back of the book:

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight - she's a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graces as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king's thug.

When she first meets Prince Po, who is Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change.

She never expects to become Po's friend.

She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace - or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away...

Graceling was really fun to read! The characters are interesting and well-fleshed out and the plot was riveting.

But - and I hate that there's a but - it left me feeling a like something was lacking. My expectations for Graceling were, I'll admit, a bit high. So maybe its not a surprise that the book didn't quite live up to my expectations. Don't get me wrong, I liked the book. But I kept thinking about how much Katsa reminded me other YA heroines (Katniss from The Hunger Games, in particular) and how much the story reminded me of other books (like the works of my girl Tamora Pierce or JRR Tolkien).

Let me be clear, I'm not saying that it felt like Cashore ripped anything off from these authors. It's just that Graceling didn't feel as fresh to me as I'd been hoping. Again, I think its more just a matter of how high my expectations were, not of any fault of the book.

In the end, Graceling is well worth the read. I don't think it really broke new ground in YA fantasy, but it was really entertaining. Fantasy fans of all ages will enjoy it.

Buy Graceling on Amazon.

Friday Update

Gosh, its been ages since I've done a Friday Upday. Mostly, that's because I haven't been buying books recently. Instead, I've been visiting our library more. Of the books I've read recently, only one was a recent acquisition- Wake by Lisa McMann.

I'm out of town this weekend, visiting family and friends back East. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I'll see you back here on Monday!

Review: Mountains Beyond Mountains

From the back of Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder:

In medical school, Paul Farmer found his life's calling: to diagnose and cure infectious diseases and to bring the lifesaving tools of modern medicine to those who need them most... Mountains Beyond Mountains takes us from Harvard to Haiti, Peru, Cuba, and Russia as Farmer changes minds and practices through his dedication to the philosophy that "the only real nation is humanity"

This was an incredible story and a wonderful book. I actually bought it several years ago - I had read House (link goes to my review) and enjoyed it, so I was interested in reading something else by Kidder. For whatever reason, though, I put it on my shelf and forgot about it. Then the earthquake hit Haiti and I spent some time thinking about that. I heard more about Partners in Health, the nonprofit Dr. Farmer founded, and their response to the earthquake on the radio. So I remembered I owned this book and pulled it down to read - and ended up gobbling it up in one long day.

Kidder is a wonderful writer. He's a journalist - making sure that every story gets covered from multiple angles, multiple viewpoints - but he's more than that. I got the sense that he was very emotionally connected with Dr. Farmer, the rest of the Partners in Health team, and the poor people helping and helped by PIH. That emotional connection came through very strongly and made me, the reader, feel connected to the people in the book. And I really enjoyed reading the history and geopolitics covered in Mountains Beyond Mountains.

I am very curious about what has happened since the events covered by Mountains Beyond Mountains, especially since the earthquake. In some ways, this felt like Part 1 of a story that continues. I would love it if Kidder continued writing about Dr. Farmer and Partners in Health.

Whatever the case for the future, this is a powerful, well-written, and interesting book. I highly recommend it for all readers, especially anyone wanting to learn more about Haiti.

Buy Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World on Amazon.

Visit author Tracy Kidder online.

Teaser Tuesday 3/16

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
• Share the title & author, too, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teaser!

Instead of randomly picking two lines, I'm sharing with you the first lines Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler, the sequel to the wonderful Parable of the Sower:

They'll make a God of her.

I think that would please her, if she could know about it.