Describe your latest book/project/work. I've been studying the life and work of photographer W. Eugene Smith for 13 years. My first book (Dream...
Continue »
Silver Phoenix is an exquisite Asian fairytale, something I’ve been hoping for for some time. Of course, my knowledge of ancient China is pretty limited, but it felt very authentic to me, and we can chalk up any problems to the fact that this is fantasy, and not exactly China. I especially loved how Pon stayed true to restrictions and prejudices toward girls, but worked around them in a way that didn’t make me go "But.. but… one girl is not going to change the gender prejudices of a whole nation!!!!!" It was great to see a fairytale style story that is very distinctly set in a non-western country, and one that doesn’t feel like it was just transplanted there without regard for all the little nuanced differences that come between western and eastern societies.
Another element I found well done was the topic of sex. The book opens on Ai Ling pretty much getting a sex ed lesson from her mother, about her duties as a wife, and throughout the book the topic of sex and purity is artfully and realistically woven into the story. Of course that makes me hesitate to say it’s appropriate for kids under 13, without knowing the kid, but I must commend the author on her good usage of the subject. I’m tired of books that use sex as purely a "look, kids, we’ve got smut!" or where girls are constantly threatened with rape ’cause they are girls in a male dominated society. The issues of sex, rape, and purity, though, were of great importance in earlier societies, so I also dislike it when authors glaze over them or pretend "oh, let’s have a medieval society, except everybody is openly promiscuous and the guy totally won’t care if he doesn’t know if he’s the father of the kid." Those kind of social changes take a lot more background history modification. But I’m digressing, and my grand debate about women’s roles in older societies can be left for a different day.
My least favorite thing about the book? The ending. Darn those open endings that need a sequel! It’s always been a pet peeve of mine when I get towards the end of the book and start realizing "wait a sec…. the author wants me to hang around for a sequel before she wraps things up, doesn’t she???" (Un?)fortunately, this was an excellent book and I will be eagerly awaiting the sequel to see how things turn out, especially with the unspoken promise of getting to see some other countries in this world. I’m not sure how to feel about the fact that the author told me on Goodreads that the book would have ended there even if there hadn’t been a sequel coming, but I probably would have felt a tad let down. I like my fiction to have what I consider happy endings. Life has enough ambiguity for me.
Read more about this book and more of my reviews at Bookwyrm Chrysalis :: yafantasy.com
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(2 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
Awaiting execution for murder, Yelena is given the choice of dying tomorrow or a life
After committing murder, Yelena is given the choice of death by execution or a life of constant risk as the Commander's food taster.
Yelena decides to choose the risky life, because at least she'll be alive, but she quickly finds there is little chance for escape as she must daily receive the antidote to a slow acting poison that the Commander's spy master (and her food tasting teacher) gave her as her first lesson. Without the antidote, she'll die painfully in a few days.
Now Yelena must deal with the ghost of the man she killed, battle foreign magicians, gain control of her illegal magic, not fall in love with the enemy, and stay alive to keep fighting the next day.
This was my first all nighter book of the new year. I'd been putting off Poison Study despite hearing wonderful things, intending to read it once all three books were out, because there's nothing I hate more than having to wait after a cliff hanger. And I was right to wait, as each book ends with Yelena starting her next adventure. Even now, the third book is out, but it seems difficult to find (I think they are rereleasing it in a new paperback edition, since the other two books just came out as such), and I had to order a copy on Amazon. Thus, to fill the few days until I get the third one (yes, I had to get it on 2 day, instead of waiting till free shipping got around to getting it to me), by writing this review.
Snyder does a wonderful job of blending characters and plot with world building and magic creation, so I can clearly picture the world and society, yet never felt like I was lectured to. So many magic heavy books need to spend pages explaining the world to the character, and while there were a few spots where Yelena had to learn what the reader and she didn't know, the spots flowed so smoothly between the story, I barely noticed.
If I had one complaint, it's that I felt like Snyder didn't really describe the characters. We heard some distinguishing traits, hair color or eye color, but not much to really tell me what they looked like. In fact, I thought that one of the main characters (Valek) was old when he first showed up, like in his 50s, cause all the descriptions she gave matched more the wise old man than young (30s) handsome love interest. And part of that could be that I don't always pick up subtle descriptions, but the character's narration voice just made it hard for me to be sure what things looked like, unless it was something she really spent a lot of time describing, because most of the time it was just a trait or two.
Read in depth review at Bookwyrm Chrysalis - http://yafantasy.com/ poison-study/
Fairytales have rules and order to them, and I’m always in love with books that examine and play with that structure. Some, like Talking with Dragons and Ella Enchanted, do a good job blending the stereotypes and expected consequences into a brand new, and usually funny, story. Into the Wild though is in that rare class of book that actually takes on the essence of the fairytale itself, making it into a beast with a mind of its own. The only other book I can think of that did this well is an adult series called Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey. In those books, fairytales have a magic of their own called the tradition, and it strives to shape people’s lives into those tales. Here, the Wild is a physical entity, taking over the Earth and forcing all within it into its own mold.
Julie was also a great main characters: strong, determined, flawed, and realistic. I'm not one for lecturing on "Oh, well, that is a great role model for young girls," but if you're going to get your role models from fiction, Julie is a great one. The humanity of her character is core to the story, just like it should be in any fantasy story. It doesn't matter the setting--books are about the people we are and the people we might become.
full review - yafantasy.com/into-the-wild/
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(1 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)
Creel’s parents died, leaving her brother and her in the care of an aunt and uncle who want to do the right thing, yet are already pushed to the limits while feeding and caring for their own family. So, after a few years, Creel’s aunt comes up with the [prefect] perfect plan: Let Creel get taken by dragons, and then her rescuer will have to marry her and take care of everyone. Creel is less than thrilled with this idea, and she creates her own plan to take off after her aunt abandons her and make her way to the capital city, King’s Seat, to make her fortune. Because of course a dragon isn’t going to appear; no one has seen a dragon in years.
What better time for a dragon to appear than right when they aren’t wanted? Creel strikes a deal with the dragon though--a piece of his treasure if she scares off the knight errant (well, really the local mayor’s son) who's come to slay the dastardly beast. To her disappointment, she learns that few dragons collect traditional treasure, and instead they all tend to have an affection towards something different. The first dragon she meets collects shoes. And thus Creel finds herself in the possession of a pair of very special slippers and on her way to King’s Seat.
When she gets to King’s Seat, she offends a princess, befriends a prince, and finds herself working in a high quality dress shop. Her embroidery is soon in high demand, and she manages to catch the eye of the visiting princess who quite admires her slippers. Soon, countries are at war, dragons are attacking each other, and a girl who’d like nothing more than to sew her creative designs finds herself in the middle of a political mess.
This was one of those books that completely surprised me. I thought I had an idea of what the book was going to be about because the initial premise is “Girl’s family is poor, aunt decides giving her to a dragon to be rescued will improve their life immensely,” and that premise reminds me a great deal of Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede. So I was expecting a humorous fantasy tale filled with wacky adventures. Instead, I got a somewhat humorous political story with a strong female heroine whose strength isn’t in fighting, but is a good planner and willing to do what she must to save her friends
I hesitated to read this book for some time, because the premise reminded me of Wrede’s books, which I love, and I was afraid that the book would be one of those situations where I’m reading it, wondering why I’m not reading the other book. Part of this is the cover. The cover is rather cartoony and doesn’t really fit with the book. It elicits a lot more feelings of adventure than the book actually contains. Really, this is a political intrigue book, where the main character just happens to fall into events because she makes friends with a prince and a few dragons.
One element I really loved was how strong a character Creel was without having to fit into a “girl becomes a warrior” model. It's always nice to see well-written fantasy girls who can be strong and still have a traditionally feminine job. Creel meets her challenges with inner courage and dignity, from befriending dragons to taking on a nasty co-worker. She doesn’t want to be involved with the fate of her country, but she'll do what she has to to protect her friends.
Another great element of the book is the use of dragons as characters. The author fleshed out human/dragon relations nicely as well as gave some reality to the dragon myths. This world is the type where it was always your neighbor’s grandpa’s uncle who saw the dragon, not actually someone you know. I love how the dragons collected different things, like how one collected stained glass windows and another collected dogs. These little touches bring the dragons to life outside of standard dragon mythology.
Happily the author has said she’s written a sequel to this book. While the end of Dragon Slippers is satisfactory, there is definitely room for a sequel.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(2 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.
Don't Miss
Customer Comments
BookwyrmChrysalis has commented on (4) products.
Silver Phoenix: Beyond the Kingdom of Xia by Cindy Pon
BookwyrmChrysalis, June 19, 2009
Silver Phoenix is an exquisite Asian fairytale, something I’ve been hoping for for some time. Of course, my knowledge of ancient China is pretty limited, but it felt very authentic to me, and we can chalk up any problems to the fact that this is fantasy, and not exactly China. I especially loved how Pon stayed true to restrictions and prejudices toward girls, but worked around them in a way that didn’t make me go "But.. but… one girl is not going to change the gender prejudices of a whole nation!!!!!" It was great to see a fairytale style story that is very distinctly set in a non-western country, and one that doesn’t feel like it was just transplanted there without regard for all the little nuanced differences that come between western and eastern societies.Another element I found well done was the topic of sex. The book opens on Ai Ling pretty much getting a sex ed lesson from her mother, about her duties as a wife, and throughout the book the topic of sex and purity is artfully and realistically woven into the story. Of course that makes me hesitate to say it’s appropriate for kids under 13, without knowing the kid, but I must commend the author on her good usage of the subject. I’m tired of books that use sex as purely a "look, kids, we’ve got smut!" or where girls are constantly threatened with rape ’cause they are girls in a male dominated society. The issues of sex, rape, and purity, though, were of great importance in earlier societies, so I also dislike it when authors glaze over them or pretend "oh, let’s have a medieval society, except everybody is openly promiscuous and the guy totally won’t care if he doesn’t know if he’s the father of the kid." Those kind of social changes take a lot more background history modification. But I’m digressing, and my grand debate about women’s roles in older societies can be left for a different day.
My least favorite thing about the book? The ending. Darn those open endings that need a sequel! It’s always been a pet peeve of mine when I get towards the end of the book and start realizing "wait a sec…. the author wants me to hang around for a sequel before she wraps things up, doesn’t she???" (Un?)fortunately, this was an excellent book and I will be eagerly awaiting the sequel to see how things turn out, especially with the unspoken promise of getting to see some other countries in this world. I’m not sure how to feel about the fact that the author told me on Goodreads that the book would have ended there even if there hadn’t been a sequel coming, but I probably would have felt a tad let down. I like my fiction to have what I consider happy endings. Life has enough ambiguity for me.
Read more about this book and more of my reviews at Bookwyrm Chrysalis :: yafantasy.com
(2 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
BookwyrmChrysalis, January 30, 2009
Awaiting execution for murder, Yelena is given the choice of dying tomorrow or a lifeAfter committing murder, Yelena is given the choice of death by execution or a life of constant risk as the Commander's food taster.
Yelena decides to choose the risky life, because at least she'll be alive, but she quickly finds there is little chance for escape as she must daily receive the antidote to a slow acting poison that the Commander's spy master (and her food tasting teacher) gave her as her first lesson. Without the antidote, she'll die painfully in a few days.
Now Yelena must deal with the ghost of the man she killed, battle foreign magicians, gain control of her illegal magic, not fall in love with the enemy, and stay alive to keep fighting the next day.
This was my first all nighter book of the new year. I'd been putting off Poison Study despite hearing wonderful things, intending to read it once all three books were out, because there's nothing I hate more than having to wait after a cliff hanger. And I was right to wait, as each book ends with Yelena starting her next adventure. Even now, the third book is out, but it seems difficult to find (I think they are rereleasing it in a new paperback edition, since the other two books just came out as such), and I had to order a copy on Amazon. Thus, to fill the few days until I get the third one (yes, I had to get it on 2 day, instead of waiting till free shipping got around to getting it to me), by writing this review.
Snyder does a wonderful job of blending characters and plot with world building and magic creation, so I can clearly picture the world and society, yet never felt like I was lectured to. So many magic heavy books need to spend pages explaining the world to the character, and while there were a few spots where Yelena had to learn what the reader and she didn't know, the spots flowed so smoothly between the story, I barely noticed.
If I had one complaint, it's that I felt like Snyder didn't really describe the characters. We heard some distinguishing traits, hair color or eye color, but not much to really tell me what they looked like. In fact, I thought that one of the main characters (Valek) was old when he first showed up, like in his 50s, cause all the descriptions she gave matched more the wise old man than young (30s) handsome love interest. And part of that could be that I don't always pick up subtle descriptions, but the character's narration voice just made it hard for me to be sure what things looked like, unless it was something she really spent a lot of time describing, because most of the time it was just a trait or two.
Read in depth review at Bookwyrm Chrysalis - http://yafantasy.com/ poison-study/
Into the Wild
BookwyrmChrysalis, January 31, 2008
Fairytales have rules and order to them, and I’m always in love with books that examine and play with that structure. Some, like Talking with Dragons and Ella Enchanted, do a good job blending the stereotypes and expected consequences into a brand new, and usually funny, story. Into the Wild though is in that rare class of book that actually takes on the essence of the fairytale itself, making it into a beast with a mind of its own. The only other book I can think of that did this well is an adult series called Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey. In those books, fairytales have a magic of their own called the tradition, and it strives to shape people’s lives into those tales. Here, the Wild is a physical entity, taking over the Earth and forcing all within it into its own mold.Julie was also a great main characters: strong, determined, flawed, and realistic. I'm not one for lecturing on "Oh, well, that is a great role model for young girls," but if you're going to get your role models from fiction, Julie is a great one. The humanity of her character is core to the story, just like it should be in any fantasy story. It doesn't matter the setting--books are about the people we are and the people we might become.
full review - yafantasy.com/into-the-wild/
(1 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)
Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George
BookwyrmChrysalis, October 15, 2007
Creel’s parents died, leaving her brother and her in the care of an aunt and uncle who want to do the right thing, yet are already pushed to the limits while feeding and caring for their own family. So, after a few years, Creel’s aunt comes up with the [prefect] perfect plan: Let Creel get taken by dragons, and then her rescuer will have to marry her and take care of everyone. Creel is less than thrilled with this idea, and she creates her own plan to take off after her aunt abandons her and make her way to the capital city, King’s Seat, to make her fortune. Because of course a dragon isn’t going to appear; no one has seen a dragon in years.What better time for a dragon to appear than right when they aren’t wanted? Creel strikes a deal with the dragon though--a piece of his treasure if she scares off the knight errant (well, really the local mayor’s son) who's come to slay the dastardly beast. To her disappointment, she learns that few dragons collect traditional treasure, and instead they all tend to have an affection towards something different. The first dragon she meets collects shoes. And thus Creel finds herself in the possession of a pair of very special slippers and on her way to King’s Seat.
When she gets to King’s Seat, she offends a princess, befriends a prince, and finds herself working in a high quality dress shop. Her embroidery is soon in high demand, and she manages to catch the eye of the visiting princess who quite admires her slippers. Soon, countries are at war, dragons are attacking each other, and a girl who’d like nothing more than to sew her creative designs finds herself in the middle of a political mess.
This was one of those books that completely surprised me. I thought I had an idea of what the book was going to be about because the initial premise is “Girl’s family is poor, aunt decides giving her to a dragon to be rescued will improve their life immensely,” and that premise reminds me a great deal of Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede. So I was expecting a humorous fantasy tale filled with wacky adventures. Instead, I got a somewhat humorous political story with a strong female heroine whose strength isn’t in fighting, but is a good planner and willing to do what she must to save her friends
I hesitated to read this book for some time, because the premise reminded me of Wrede’s books, which I love, and I was afraid that the book would be one of those situations where I’m reading it, wondering why I’m not reading the other book. Part of this is the cover. The cover is rather cartoony and doesn’t really fit with the book. It elicits a lot more feelings of adventure than the book actually contains. Really, this is a political intrigue book, where the main character just happens to fall into events because she makes friends with a prince and a few dragons.
One element I really loved was how strong a character Creel was without having to fit into a “girl becomes a warrior” model. It's always nice to see well-written fantasy girls who can be strong and still have a traditionally feminine job. Creel meets her challenges with inner courage and dignity, from befriending dragons to taking on a nasty co-worker. She doesn’t want to be involved with the fate of her country, but she'll do what she has to to protect her friends.
Another great element of the book is the use of dragons as characters. The author fleshed out human/dragon relations nicely as well as gave some reality to the dragon myths. This world is the type where it was always your neighbor’s grandpa’s uncle who saw the dragon, not actually someone you know. I love how the dragons collected different things, like how one collected stained glass windows and another collected dogs. These little touches bring the dragons to life outside of standard dragon mythology.
Happily the author has said she’s written a sequel to this book. While the end of Dragon Slippers is satisfactory, there is definitely room for a sequel.
(2 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)