The Magic of Ink

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Ophelia

by Lisa M. Klein

Ophelia has admired Prince Hamlet since the days when she and her brother Laertes played in the streets of their village. Because she is not a nobleman’s daughter, Ophelia has little hope of speaking with the dashing prince, until her father’s greedy ambitions bring their family to the palace. Noticed by the queen, Ophelia is asked to become a lady-in-waiting. Though she is the lady with the lowest social standing, her quick wit and charm soon make Ophelia a favorite of Queen Gertrude...as well as Prince Hamlet. The lovers begin secret trysts in the village, dressing as peasants and calling each other “Jack” and “Jill,” whose simple lives they sometimes wish they could live. Even with their love a secret from most, Hamlet and Ophelia are happy enough—until King Hamlet’s ghost is sighted. As the Prince begins to go wild with the grief of his father’s death, Ophelia realizes that she must free herself from Hamlet before it’s too late.

Beautifully written, Ophelia begins long before, leaves off far past the end, and delves much deeper into the entire story of Hamlet, creating an Ophelia who is not just Hamlet’s mad-with-grief lover, but a smart, headstrong young woman who comes into her own despite the challenges placed before her.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Six (Not So) Random Things

Em tagged me with this meme:

1. I'm horrible at coming up with anything random. At all. It takes me about 10 minutes for some reason. That's why I enjoy being around random people so much, and why my answers for this meme probably won't be very exciting.

2. I have never read an anime but I have a deep dislike for them and never plan on reading one.

3. I'm only up to three things and am already nearing the end of my randomness.

4. I was in a "car accident" when I was four; There wasn't enough space inside the Little Tykes car for three little kids, so I rode on the roof. And since I "had a tickle" I had to let go to scratch it and fell head-first onto my friends' concrete patio. I have a flat spot on my forehead to this day (fortunately it can only be seen in certain lights), and it probably also permanently killed off some important brain cells.

5. I love bare feet, and if I can't have them, I like flip flops. Shoes are a last resort for when it's raining (I don't want to slip), freezing/snowing, or I'm going hiking or whatever.

6. I have never been in an airplane or outside of my own little time zone, but I want to go to England some day (and see everything in London and then go to Portsmouth and see the H.M.S. Victory), and also Ireland because I have a pen pal there, I would love to go to a real Céilidh, and just because.

So here are the rules for this meme in case you want to play:
1. You link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post these rules on your blog.
3. Share six unimportant things about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your entry.
5. Let the tagged people know by leaving a comment on their blogs.

I'll tag Tasha, Katie, Felicity, Pilar Mutya, The Compulsive Reader, and Tyto Alba (I don't care if we have two of these things on the same blog).

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Beast

by Donna Jo Napoli

Persian Prince Orasmyn—with a soft spot for roses and no desire to go on hunts—is a good Muslim boy, but when a sacrificial camel is found to be imperfect right before the Feast of Sacrifices, Orasmyn covers it up. For his careless decision, a pari—or fairy—curses him as a Beast, tells him that no woman will ever love him, and announces that the Prince’s own father will kill him tomorrow.
To survive, Orasmyn must leave the palace, but to survive outside of the kingdom’s walls means he must give in to his feline instincts. If he can find a woman who loves him as Beast, Orasmyn might be able to break his curse, but he must search far and wide. What will his wanderings teach him?

Beast was a lot more about the lives of lions than I imagined it would be, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it wasn’t what I was expecting in a lot of ways. For a large part of the novel the prince tries to live as a lion without becoming entirely Beast, and it took quite a while to get into the parts that are actually in the fairytale, making it almost a Beauty and the Beast prequel. The ending seemed very sudden to me, and there was no indication of how Orasmyn knew he had to find his Belle to be changed back into a human.

This is the first book I’ve read for Enna Isilee’s Twisted Fairy Tale Challenge.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Bloody Jack Adventures

Being Full Accounts of the Life of the Notorious Jacky Faber, Midshipman, Fine Lady, Pirate, Keelboat Captain, Lily of the West, Soldier, Sailor, Mermaid, Spy, and Queen of the Ocean Sea
by L.A. Meyer

This series centers on spunky Mary Faber, who gets into—and out of—every kind of scrape imaginable. In the first book she starts out as a London street orphan who signs aboard the H.M.S. Dolphin to make an honorable living. Disguised as a boy and newly christened “Jacky,” she hopes to voyage to far lands and see the Bombay Rat and the Cathay Cat. But it’s not that easy: life on a royal warship during the Napoleonic Wars is harsh in many ways, including cruel officers and bloody battles with pirates.
In a strange turn of events, Jacky is discovered as a girl by the Dolphin’s crew, separated from her true love, Mr. James “Jaimy” Emerson Fletcher, and sent to the Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls to be gentrified.
But learning to be a lady by all odds won’t keep Jacky Faber inside making samplers or away from her beau. No way, she roves the world from the streets of London to a gaol in Boston, the hills of Ireland to the mud of the Mississippi, the swells of the Caribbean Sea to the guillotine in France, and everywhere in between.

Along the way Jacky makes friends in high places and in low (very memorable and almost over the top, but never annoyingly so characters), and the acquaintances of many handsome young men....

There is something for everyone in these novels: adventure, romance, humor, sentiment, drama, even a little action. They are filled with lots of fun little references to legends, characters from classic novels, historical figures, and—most particularly—songs from the period. Like most series, Jacky’s adventures have high and low points, but over all are simply amazing and can be described in one word: WOW. The series is definitely one of my favorites, and has its own small fan club on the Bloody Jack Boards (which I don’t recommend visiting until you’ve read the series because of spoilers).
Fans of Celia Rees’ Pirates! and the Piratica Trilogy by Tanith Lee will love Jacky Faber!

Note: These are definitely at least age 12-and-up books due to mature content matter (some violence and sexual references).

Check out this awesome fan-made trailer!

Read every one of Jacky’s exciting adventures in:

Bloody Jack: Being an Account of the Curious Adventures of Mary “Jacky” Faber, Ship’s Boy
Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady
Under the Jolly Roger: Being an Account of the Further Nautical Adventures of Jacky Faber
In the Belly of the Bloodhound: Being an Account of a Particularly Peculiar Adventure in the Life of Jacky Faber
Mississippi Jack: Being an Account of the Further Waterborne Adventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman, Fine Lady, and the Lily of the West
My Bonny Light Horseman: Being the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, in Love and War
Rapture of the Deep: Being an Account of the Further Adventures of Jacky Faber, Soldier, Sailor, Mermaid, Spy
Wake of the Lorelei Lee: Being an Account of the Adventures of Jacky Faber, on her Way to Botany Bay
The Mark of the Golden Dragon (working title)

Friday, March 14, 2008

Face Lift!

It took a while, but I finally figured out the correct size picture to make a banner for my blog, so I put one up. And after that...I just realized that the background color of templates can be changed. So I chose one that matches the banner well. And here it is!

So, what do you all think? Is there WAY too much blue (sorry, it's my favorite color!) or is any of the post/sidebar/header text too hard to read? Let me know 'cause I don't want anybody needing glasses because of me me. ;-)

Hope you like it!
-Ink Mage

Monday, March 10, 2008

The Declaration

by Gemma Malley

The year is 2140, and the general population has decided that they want to live forever. The drug Longevity allows them to do just that. But since no one dies, there isn’t enough room or resources for any new babies to be born. Therefore, the Declaration is written and signed, outlawing the very existence of all children. Illegally born people (called “Surpluses”) are quickly taken away to live in institutions that train them for a life of manual work—they repay the sin of having been born with near slave labor. Surplus Anna has lived almost her entire life within the cold walls of Grange Hall; Surpluses aren’t allowed to go Outside, and why should she want to anyway? She doesn’t deserve to exist. Anna has only one goal, one point, and that is to be the most useful and obedient Surplus she can. But when Peter comes to stay at Grange Hall, everything is different. He tells Anna that he knows her parents, that they still love her and are longing for her to come home. At first Anna is skeptical and resentful, but still the news makes her curious. Through Peter, Anna finds her own rebellious spark and realizes that she has to run from Grange Hall. But can she and Peter escape the twisted headmistress, Mrs. Pincent? And if so, what will await Anna in the Outside?

I really enjoyed this book. It was an easy read, but by no means was it shallow. If you like The Giver or Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Shadow Children series, you’ll like The Declaration. I’m greatly looking forward to the sequel, The Resistance , which will be available in September.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Beastly

by Alex Flinn

Kyle Kingsbury is rich, handsome, and friends with the cool people in his exclusive private school. But weird and mysterious Goth classmate Kendra Hilferty sees through his Mr. Popular façade to what he really is; to where he’s mean—anyone who’s not beautiful is ugly, anyone who’s not someone is worthless, to where he’s cruel just for a laugh. To where he’s beastly. Kyle sees her as just another unattractive freak, but there’s more to Kendra than he thinks—like the fact that she’s a witch. On the night if the spring dance, Kyle is especially spiteful and Kendra gives him what he deserves: for the next two years he’ll be in his appropriate form of a beast—unless true love’s kiss breaks the spell.
It doesn’t take long for Kyle to realize he has to change his ways—and fast, or else he might take a turn as an outcast freak...and for the rest of his life.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Beastly, since it was nothing like the author’s previous books, but it didn’t let me down. It’s another easy-to-read, creative novel from “the queen of writing troubled yet multi-dimensional teens,” but with a new twist.
Alex Flinn cleverly weaves events from the original Beauty and the Beast story into the modern era, and gives it real emotions.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Twisted Fairy Tale Challenge

I just joined the

Hosted by Enna Isilee at Squeaky Books.

The goal is to: Read 4 books about twisted fairy tales by May 5, 2008, with the exceptions of:
You may read a book that is not directly based on a fairy tale, but has a very fairy-tale theme (i.e. Sarah Beth Durst's Into the Wild)
You may read more than 4

The books I'm so far thinking of reading are:

The Swan Maiden, by Heather Tomlinson
A Curse Dark as Gold, by Elizabeth C. Bunce
The Swan Kingdom, by Zoë Marriott
Beast, by Donna Jo Napoli
Cindy Ella, by Robin Palmer

Friday, February 29, 2008

Becoming Jane

2007
Runtime: 120 minutes
Rated PG for brief [unnecessary] nudity and mild language
Cast includes: Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy, Maggie Smith, Julie Walters, & James Cromwell

Jane Austen is young and unmarried, but none of the men who come courting her live up to her expectations...until a disagreeable young man honors the people of Hampshire with his presence. Mr. Thomas Lefroy is rude—yawning over Jane’s writing!—and, in her words, “insufferable.” However, upon meeting at other occasions, the two realize they are equals in wit and intellect.

Sound familiar? Yes, the beginning is so filled with painfully obvious Pride and Prejudice references—in characters, lines, and scenes—that it seems like a cheap rip-off on the classic novel. Maybe Austen did find inspiration in her everyday life, but Pride and Prejudice was not an autobiography, for goodness’ sakes. The allusions could have been much more subtle.
Fortunately the second half of the script smoothes out into a story of its own. And yes, liberties are taken with Jane’s life and her mysterious flirtation with Tom. So? Personally I can forgive a fictional movie for changing the story of a person’s life if it is well done (Amadeus, for instance), and Becoming Jane is, altogether, a lovely film.
James McAvoy was amazing and Anne Hathaway’s acting has improved immensely (her British accent wasn’t even half bad), but unfortunately Maggie Smith’s talents were hardly seen. The English countryside scenery was delightful and the soundtrack was very pretty, though it did not seem to go with the mood that was visually illustrated in certain scenes.
Over all, I thought the movie was well worth watching at least once—for the intense emotions portrayed with little direct speaking between the lovers in a near-end scene alone. My final opinion is: it was passable, but could have been excellent.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Gideon the Cutpurse

Being the First Part of the Gideon Trilogy
by Linda-Buckley Archer

To Peter Schock, nothing sounds more boring than the trip from his home in London to the little farm in Derbyshire. But his father has an urgent business meeting, and his mother’s been on a movie set in California for months. So with his au pair, Margrit, he goes out to the country to spend the weekend. But things don’t turn out as boring as Peter thought. Kate Dyer (the oldest girl from the farm) and Peter are chasing the dog through Kate’s father’s laboratory when they accidentally run into the experimental “antigravity machine.” When they next wake up, they find themselves in an almost completely unfamiliar place. Lost, disoriented, and hungry, the two children are confused and frightened about what happened. But Gideon—Cutpurse and Gentleman—has been hiding in the bushes and sees what happens to them. He is the one who tells them the shocking news: the year is 1763. They’ve traveled back in time. Seeking shelter, Peter and Kate journey with Gideon to his new employers’ house in Bakewell, where they find good food, ridiculous clothing, and (hopefully) a way to get home. But who would believe their story? Both Kate and Peter know how improbable it sounds, so they tell only Gideon, who already believes them. On their way to London, the party runs into highwaymen, famous figures including King George III, and many people who seem to be on the hunt for Gideon. Meanwhile, Peter and Kate desperately try to get home, help keep Gideon from the noose, and stay alive in such a lawless era.

A great book. The School Library Journal remarked that Gideon the Cutpurse “may very well give J.K. Rowling a run for her money.” Peter and Kate were only twelve-year-olds, but I liked how they didn’t act extremely juvenile because of it. The story was great, lots of twisting in the plot and unexpected new adventures at every corner. Gideon the Cutpurse was renamed The Time Travelers in the US, so try not to be confused like I was. Book #2, The Time Thief, was recently released, and the final installment, The Splintering of Time, will be published sometime this year.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Hush

An Irish Princess’ Tale
by Donna Jo Napoli

Melkorka is a princess, she is used to people treating her with respect. She’s entitled to it. Her life is good until, when visiting Dublin for a special treat, misfortune befalls her family. An incident that brings her father to the brink of war with the Norsemen results in the princess’ need to hide. With her sister, Brigid, Mel flees to a neighboring kingdom, but they way is far and peasant-boy disguises don’t protect them from the wickedest of thieves, the ones who trade in humans. Mel and Brigid get a new perspective on life as slaves, and “a slave life counts for nothing unless the slave finds a trick.” Mel’s trick will be to hush. Read this Irish princess’ tale and find out how silence can be power.

I felt sort of in the middle about Hush. The writing was well done, and the characters were interesting, but the story wasn’t very exciting. Things take place, but Mel mostly went along with what happened to her, and though that is part of her power, it doesn’t make for a particularly adventuresome tale. It’s not your classic princess story (it is more about pain and hope than love or romance), and because of that and the writing I did enjoy it, but it wasn’t a new favorite.

Read and reviewed for my Royalty Rules Reading Challenge.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Secret Sacrament and Time of the Eagle

by Sherryl Jordan

Navoran-born Gabriel Eshban Vala has felt a connection to the gentle Shinali people since he was seven years old, when he witnessed soldiers conducting a horrible act on a Shinali woman. That event changed his life forever, giving him a longing to heal and help people.
His dreams come true when, at eighteen, he is asked to train as a healer at the Citadel, which means seven long years with little contact with the outside world. But Gabriel only wants to heal and shows an immense talent for it, including the rare ability to mind-heal. However, he is distracted by the peaceful harmony of the Shinali people, and their unjust treatment by the Novorans. Perhaps his destiny is to begin the Time of the Eagle and mend the conflicts between the Navorans and the Shinali.

In Time of the Eagle we meet Avala, a young Shinali woman and a “child of love out of nations that hate,” who will finish bringing the Time of the Eagle into its full being. The small Shinali tribe is looking for a leader with the strength of a warrior and the heart of a healer, and they think Avala will be the one to bring the three clans and revolting Navorans together. When she finds and helps a wounded Igaal warrior it seems her destiny might be beginning without her noticing, but not everyone appreciates Avala’s destiny, and challenges will block her way.

Secret Sacrament and Time of the Eagle are two beautiful, powerful stories of love and hate, fear and hope, war and peace, greed and sacrifice that leave strong impressions on the reader long after they are finished. I really am doing them no justice with my summaries. Sherryl Jordan is a creator of amazing stories and descriptions, and believable characters, and I have no idea why her books are not immensely popular.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

The Red Queen’s Daughter

by Jacqueline Kolosov

Mary is the daughter of Henry VIII’s last wife, Katherine Parr, but her farther was Katherine’s second husband, the treasonous Thomas Seymour. With both her parents executed and her guardian now also dead, nine-year-old Mary is taken into the custody of Lady Strange, a woman with an air of mystery about her. Mary learns that Lady Strange will be her teacher, but not in stitching and mending. No, Mary is to become a white magician—and a white magician with a destiny at that. Her future is to protect Queen Elizabeth from “romantic intoxication” and prevent her downfall. As the years pass Mary’s skills grow until, at sixteen, she is ready to move to Whitehall palace and become one of the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting. Here Mary must at once learn the schemes of Court life and discover the deepest part of her magic. Fortunately her ability to see auras allows her to learn something of a person’s intentions, but there is one she cannot see: Her cousin, Edmund Seymour, a powerful and possibly dangerous young man who is also a magician...but a dark one. The plots for power increase a notch with magic to an exciting and unique novel of a little-known historical girl, The Red Queen’s Daughter.

Jacqueline Kolosov does a fantastic job of portraying Elizabethan England with an element of magic without overdoing it; no abracadabra spells, but believable ones of seeing, knowing, and understanding. I will admit that the end was kind of rushed, with some plotlines left hanging, and the romance was a little unsatisfactory, but mayhap a sequel would take care of those small things.

****Also posted on YA Books Central.****

Monday, February 4, 2008

Eva’s Reading Meme

Alyssa from The Shady Glade tagged me with Eva’s Meme:

Which book do you irrationally cringe away from reading, despite seeing only positive reviews? Honestly?
I don’t think there are any books out there that received only positive reviews, but there are some very popular books/series that I have no desire to read. Such as The Bartimaeus Trilogy, the Artemis Fowl series, and any anime/manga. There’s probably more but I can’t think of them at the moment.

If you could bring three characters to life for a social event (afternoon tea, a night of clubbing, perhaps a world cruise), who would they be and what would the event be?
Only three? Humph. Well, I’d be delighted to make the acquaintances of Nancy Kington (Pirates! by Celia Rees), Sarah Wheelock (Ann Rinaldi’s Girl in Blue), and Jacky Faber (the Bloody Jack Adventures by L.A. Meyer)—although if I knew the latter personally I suspect that I might find her rather tiresome. There are others, but as I am only allowed three....
As for the social event, what fun are those? Just give me a week or two with them and they could teach me to hunt, ride horses, sail, spy, and many other things. But a lovely picnic lunch each day could be included, too. :-)

(Borrowing shamelessly from the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde): you are told you can’t die until you read the most boring novel on the planet. While this immortality is great for awhile, eventually you realise it’s past time to die. Which book would you expect to get you a nice grave?
Honestly it would probably be The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and/or The Hobbit. I have tried SO many times to read those books and never gotten more than half a chapter into them. I don’t think it’s that the story is unappealing—the first movie was good—but as a friend put it, “You feel like you’re hacking through all this description to get to the actual story.”

Come on, we’ve all been there. Which book have you pretended, or at least hinted, that you’ve read, when in fact you’ve been nowhere near it?
I have to admit that I sort of pretend I’ve read Pride and Prejudice when indeed I have not. Although I have, in fact, been near it, only unable to get into it.

As an addition to the last question, has there been a book that you really thought you had read, only to realise when you read a review about it/go to ‘reread’ it that you haven’t? Which book?
Nope.

You’re interviewing for the post of Official Book Advisor to some VIP (who’s not a big reader). What’s the first book you’d recommend and why? (If you feel like you’d have to know the person, go ahead and personalise the VIP.)
There are so many different types of people and so many books that each of them would enjoy that I don’t think I could answer this.

A good fairy comes and grants you one wish: you will have perfect reading comprehension in the foreign language of your choice. Which language do you go with?
I don’t know. Maybe...French because there’s so much classic literature that was originally published en français.

A mischievious fairy comes and says that you must choose one book that you will reread once a year for the rest of your life (you can read other books as well). Which book would you pick?
Probably Bloody Jack, by L.A. Meyer (and the rest of the series after it!).

I know that the book blogging community, and its various challenges, have pushed my reading borders. What’s one bookish thing you ‘discovered’ from book blogging (maybe a new genre, or author, or new appreciation for cover art—anything)?
Well I read pretty much any genre before blogging, so it can’t be discovering a new genre.... Nothing really comes to mind aside from books and maybe a few authors that I hadn’t heard of .

That good fairy is back for one final visit. Now, she’s granting you your dream library! Describe it. Is everything leatherbound? Is it full of first edition hardcovers? Pristine trade paperbacks? Perhaps a few favourite authors have inscribed their works? Go ahead—let your imagination run free.
It would be dark and spooky and when you open the door a recording of “Enter. MWAhahahahaha!” plays. Just kidding. :-)
Although I don’t generally like dark wood much, you just have to have it in a library. So, you walk in the door to find tall mahogany shelves loaded with every novel I’ve ever read and liked. The walls, where you can see them for the bookshelves, are a soothing cream color dotted with sconces that produce warm light. The blue and stars-scattered ceiling soars high above your head, but not so much as to make you feel dwarfed.
The floor (also mahogany) is decorated with area rugs in a dark blue with oceanic designs. Chairs that you can sink deep into are placed in nooks between the shelves, but I would spend most of my time reading and dreaming on the comfy window seat of the large window overlooking green hills edged with trees.
Every book on the shelf a hardcover so new the spine cracks when you open it (I love the smell of them), and there’s a magical book-drop from which all of the new releases I’ve been waiting to read fall the second of their release!

I tag Aella Soifra, Enna Isilee, Harmony, and Megan. (Sorry if any of you have already been tagged.) Now all of you answer and then tag four people!

Friday, February 1, 2008

Royalty Rules Reviews & Kickoff!