JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

The poverty stricken Reds are commoners, living under the rule of the Silvers, elite warriors with god-like powers.

To Mare Barrow, a 17-year-old Red girl from The Stilts, it looks like nothing will ever change. Mare finds herself working in the Silver Palace, at the centre of those she hates the most. She quickly discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy Silver control. But power is a dangerous game. And in this world divided by blood, who will win?

I finally managed to get my hands on the book all YA bloggers have been talking about – Red Queen. It is the first in a new dystopian trilogy by Victoria Aveyard, and has just topped the New York Times’ bestseller list.

Firstly, can we all take a moment to appreciate the cover? It’s fantastic. And once you start to read the book, the colours used on the cover really tie in with the plot. There are two societies in this series, and they are separated by the colour of their blood. The Silvers – obviously with silver blood – control everything. They are elite and important and they have special skills (like being able to control fire and metal). And then there are the Reds. They are the dirt underneath your shoe. They are poor and unimpressive and they don’t have any special skills.

Now I did hear some negative reviews of this book before I read it, and all I can say is those people are lame:

Sure, it’s a little similar to other dystopian YA, but it’s pretty difficult to differentiate dystopian YA at the moment. It’s usually got two different societies (poor and rich), and the main character is usually from the poor society, and then somehow finds a way to infiltrate that upper class society and shut it down. For example, The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig, The Hunger Games, Divergent etc etc.

Mare Barrow, the main character, despises the Silvers. But then she unlocks a power that she didn’t even realise she had, and she’s thrust into their world. Instead of being killed, Mare is betrothed to the Prince and joins a rebellion to overthrow the government. And let’s not forget to mention that there’s a huge, ridiculous character twist at the end that I would never have predicted.

Mare really grows over the course of the novel. Sure, I’d like her to have a bit more of a backbone, but in her situation, it’s understandable that she doesn’t. And hey, she’s got two more books to develop it. She is very intelligent and intuitive, and her sass and quick wit is refreshing in the novel. It’s not one of those books where everything just seems to work for her – there are times in the novel where I think she might lose someone she loves. There’s a lot to unfold over the next two books.

I recommend this book to YA readers, but also to fantasy readers. It’s a quick read – I read it in one day.

My Score: 9/10
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The Ice Dragon by George R.R. Martin

In the world of A Song of Ice and Fire the ice dragon was a creature of legend and fear, for no man had ever tamed one. When it flew overhead, it left in its wake desolate cold and frozen land. But Adara was not afraid. For Adara was a winter child, born during the worst freeze that anyone, even the Old Ones, could remember.

Adara could not remember the first time she had seen the ice dragon. It seemed that it had always been in her life, glimpsed from afar as she played in the frigid snow long after the other children had fled the cold. In her fourth year she touched it, and in her fifth year she rode upon its broad, chilled back for the first time. Then, in her seventh year, on a calm summer day, fiery dragons from the North swooped down upon the peaceful farm that was Adara’s home.

And only a winter child-and the ice dragon who loved her-could save her world from utter destruction.

Despite being marketed and advertised as a children’s book, The Ice Dragon is not a children’s book. Sure, the main character is a young girl who needs to prove herself to her family and mature and find her identity, but this book does deal with loss and poverty and is quite dark for a children’s book. Although I do commend George R.R. Martin for addressing these adult-ish themes in a subtle way, so that it’s not blaringly obvious to a child reading it.

This story was actually published in 1980, but has since been re-jacketed (in hardcover) and re-illustrated by acclaimed artist Luis Royo. All of the illustrations are black and white sketches, which add to the moody, gloomy atmosphere of the book and the plot. However, the front cover has some slight colour, which I imagine would help it stand out in a bookstore.

From what I can tell, this book takes place in the same world as A Song of Ice and Fire, but several years earlier. The ice dragon is feared among all citizens, except for Adara, who befriends the dragon. Adara almost seems to be outcast from her family, because her mother died giving birth to her. She was born ice cold, and she has stayed that way – both physically and mentally – ever since.

Adara matures and changes through the book; however, this is done in a lyrically subtle way that you don’t often see in children’s literature. The prose is blunt, but it flows. And Adara’s personality is clear from her actions and not from the character description.

GRRM’s description is extremely vivid and detailed. You can imagine the characters and scenes so well. Here’s an excerpt from the book from when he’s describing the ice dragon:

The ice dragon was a crystalline white, that shade of white that is so hard and cold that it is almost blue. It was covered with hoarfrost, so when it moved its skin broke and crackled as the crust on the snow crackles beneath a man’s boots, and flakes of rime fell off.

GRRM often uses long sentences to enhance his description. It works well with characters, and it works well at the beginning of a story to help the reader imagine that character. Well, children aren’t really going to appreciate his stylistics, but any adults that read this will.

My Score: 9/10
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Seriously…I’m Kidding by Ellen Degeneres

“Sometimes the greatest things are the most embarrassing.” Ellen Degeneres’ winning, upbeat candor has made her show one of the most popular, resilient and honored daytime shows on the air. (To date, it has won no fewer than 31 Emmys.) Seriously… I’m Kidding, Degeneres’ first book in eight years, brings us up to date about the life of a kindhearted woman who bowed out of American Idol because she didn’t want to be mean.

I really wanted to love this book because I watch Ellen’s show all the time and I think she’s hilarious. But this book just didn’t work for me. The first few chapters are very clever and funny, but then it lacks for the remainder of the book.

Each chapter focuses on something different, but it all seems to be surface level. You don’t complete the novel feeling like you know anything more about Ellen. This is a book where she picks random topics and gives you her opinion on them. And that’s fun at first, but it gets old.

I wish Ellen wrote on a more personal level, so that there was a balance between humour and seriousness. Lena Dunham’s book does this perfectly. But I do understand that Ellen’s book probably never intended to achieve what Lena’s did. Seriously…I’m Kidding is designed to make people laugh, and it does, but there needs to be something propelling the story forward. If there are only jokes, then the reader gets a little bored. Also, I could skip chapters that bored me and it wouldn’t matter. And even in non-fiction, a reader shouldn’t want to do this.

This book may ‘bring us up to date’ on Ellen’s life, but it doesn’t really delve deep into who Ellen is behind her comedic front. I’d only recommend this book to people who are Ellen fans.

My Score: 4/10
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Still Alice by Lisa Genova

In Lisa Genova’s extraordinary New York Times bestselling novel, an accomplished professor diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease learns that her worth is comprised of more than her ability to remember.

Alice Howland is proud of the life she worked so hard to build. At fifty years old she’s a cognitive psychology professor at Harvard and a world-renowned expert in linguistics with a successful husband and three grown children. When she becomes increasingly disoriented and forgetful, a tragic diagnosis changes her lifeand her relationship with her family and the world forever.

And yet another book comes along that I noticed because of a film adaptation. The cover (film tie in edition) is intriguing, and says enough about the nature and storyline of the book. The main character, Alice, develops early onset Alzheimer’s. The book is in third person, although it’s really told from Alice’s perspective. She realises there’s something wrong quite early on in the story – she forgets certain words in a lecture and forgets to meet people or attend a dinner. It’d be easy for her to brush this off as ‘getting older’ or ‘going through menopause’, but she pushes to find the answer to what’s happening to her, even though her husband refuses to believe it.

I have mixed opinions of her husband. You can tell he’s just as heartbroken with her diagnosis as she is, but he deals with it in what I’d say is the wrong way. He ignores it, and he pretends it’s not happening. He tries to move Alice to NY, even though that would be terrible for her Alzheimer’s. She’d be alone, and she’d be terrified and away from her children and future grandchildren. Throughout the book, the reader doubts his commitment to her – he comes across as selfish and conceited. But he does love her; he’s simply struggling to come to terms with her disease and how it’s affecting their family.

This book changes how you see Alzheimer’s. It can affect people as young as 40, and Alice is a 50 year old Harvard professor. She’s extremely intelligent, but her mind deteriorates. She can’t remember where she put her copy of Moby Dick, and then she finds it in the microwave. She keeps hearing the ‘beep beep’ of the telephone, only to realise it’s actually the microwave.

Her disease is horrible for her to come to terms with because she can’t do her job anymore, and then, as the disease gets worse, she sleeps all day and she can’t remember why she’s in the bathroom. She can’t remember where she is when she goes running, and she can’t even remember that she has children.
The ending to the novel is open-ended, but that’s what this disease is. It doesn’t end, and at the moment there’s no cure. This book highlights the tragic nature of Alzheimer’s, and how difficult it is not only for the person suffering from it but for their family as well.

Lisa Genova has done such a marvellous job at being subtle. You realise Alice’s pain without Alice telling you, or without her even realising it herself. She forgets things and she misses her lectures, and she never really realises, but you – as the reader – realise. And you feel for her. Warning: this novel might come with tears. Have tissues handy.

My Score: 10/10
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The Ice Twins by S.K. Tremayne

A year after one of their identical twin daughters, Lydia, dies in an accident, Angus and Sarah Moorcraft move to the tiny Scottish island Angus inherited from his grandmother, hoping to put together the pieces of their shattered lives.

But when their surviving daughter, Kirstie, claims they have mistaken her identity – that she, in fact, is Lydia – their world comes crashing down once again.

As winter encroaches, Angus is forced to travel away from the island for work, Sarah is feeling isolated, and Kirstie (or is it Lydia?) is growing more disturbed. When a violent storm leaves Sarah and her daughter stranded, Sarah finds herself tortured by the past – what really happened on that fateful day one of her daughters died?

I heard rave reviews about this title, but I must admit that I was really disappointed. Overall, the book isn’t as ‘haunting’ or ‘gripping’ as described. I kept waiting for a twist or for a shocking scene where I’d be desperate to get to the end, but this just didn’t happen. The ‘revelation’ at the end isn’t really that shocking because most of the book is pretty predictable and I saw it coming.

The book is from the point of view of the mother, Sarah, and she’s just not a likeable character. She has too much internal dialogue and she doesn’t let the reader realise anything for themselves. She’s also really naïve and delicate, and she asks too many rhetorical questions. She comes across as slightly neurotic, and the reader doesn’t like her enough to disregard her flaws.

I quite liked the husband, Angus. He was authentic and his societal reactions were realistic and effective to the plot. You are positioned to hate him in the novel because his daughter is supposedly ‘scared of him’, but it’s quite clear that he’s not the bad guy.

The setting in the novel helps to isolate the characters and force the reader to really focus on the plot and the relations between Angus and Sarah. I think the author did well to pace the story so that it didn’t move too quickly but it didn’t move too slowly either.

I do think it was missing something – the story just didn’t grab me. Maybe it was the characters and the circumstances. Maybe it was the setting. Or maybe it was the farfetched nature of the premise that disappointed me.

My Score: 5/10
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