More Books than Time

Book Reviews - Romance, Fantasy, Science Fiction - By an Adult for Adults

Review: Dragon’s Bait YA Fantasy, False Accusations, Dragons, Vivian Vande Velde

by Leave a Comment

Dragon’s Bait by Vivian Vande Velde is listed for 12 year olds and may appeal to the pre-teen and young teen girls because the protagonist Alys is the well-meaning victim of her greedy neighbors.  The neighbors accuse her of witchcraft, find a corrupt priest to find her guilty and soon she is tied to a stake for the dragon to devour.

Of course Alys is innocent and the dragon is Selendrile, a young dragon able to change into a young man who is willing to help her get revenge.  Selendrile first sounds like he’s ambivalent about revenge, but he soon takes charge of Alys and her quest.  The book has a couple interesting moments, and occasional hints of humor such as when Alys and Selendrile reach the town to deal with the churchman judge who condemned Alys.

Overall I did not like this.  It was understandable that Alys would like to reclaim her place, but that she would try to get her neighbor’s daughter condemned as a witch for revenge was far-fetched.  Really?  Alys is suffering since she now has no home and no real chance to establish herself.  But to try and make someone else suffer the same way?  Why would we want to read about someone this mean and selfish?

If nothing else the complete lack of a moral dilemma made this book ring hollow to me.  I read the whole thing in a short evening and finished it feeling more and more distaste for Alys, Selendrile and all the other characters.  They were not interesting and did not feel like real people, and were all one dimensional, nasty, the sort you feel the author ordered from the local character-take-out-joint.

The dialogue was boring, poorly done, stilted.  The dragon Selendrile has no motivation to help Alys and at the end of the book, when he offers to take Alys to his home, we simply are lost.  There is no reason, no future, and frankly, I did not care.

I do not recommend this.  The reviewers on Amazon gave this high marks, but I cannot rate it above a 2 out of 5.

Review: The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp YA Fiction Rick Yancey

by 2 Comments

Take a good look at the picture on the cover.

Sword. Chunky kid. Untied shoelace. What do you think?

Yes, the hero in The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp is a kid. Yes, he has King Arthur’s Excalibur. Yes, the villains are after him.

No. He is not a nerd, nor wimpy, nor skinny nor does he wear glasses. What he is, is an orphan with a very large head, a big husky body, not super clever, not college-bound, and he plays football only because he has to. The entire book is full of surprises like this. We have scenes that you just know how they will proceed – but then they don’t.  You have a character who seems miscast as a hero – until he becomes one.  You have ambiguous characters – until they reveal themselves.  I thoroughly enjoyed The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp. I loved the character Alfred Kropp, loved the plot, the fast pace, the on-going mystery of the ambiguous super secret organization OIPEP.

This is a very fast read; I finished in one evening, then ran downstairs to get the sequel on my Nook.  The book combines a fun read with some serious introspection on the part of a fifteen year old self-described screw up kid.  Alfred knows he will goof and make the wrong decision but he keeps on going, determined to set right what he caused to go wrong.  Yes, there is some coming-of-age in this book; after all you can’t avoid that when dealing with a teen protagonist.  But the coming of age is well done and just sort of happens along the way.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp is classified as YA fiction since Alfred is fifteen. No doubt boys will especially enjoy this but girls and adults will too.

I highly recommend this.

Review: Ranger’s Apprentice Book One: The Ruins of Gorlan John Flanagan

by 1 Comment

The Ruins of Gorlan, Ranger’s Apprentice Book 1 is listed as YA fantasy. Will, the hero is 15 years old, small and scrawny, an orphan raised as the ward of Baron Arald, lord of Redmont fief, along with 4 others his age.  Ever year wards that turn 15 must choose – and be chosen – by one of the castle craft masters who then assume responsibility for their new apprentice.

Will wants to be a knight but is rejected from Battle School due to his size. The Ranger Halt accepts him and begins his training which includes how to move unnoticed, archery and field craft. Rangers are a cross between the spies of the kingdom, couriers and advisers.

Will of course proves himself many times, showing bravery, smarts, ethics, honor and ability. At the end of the story he is offered the chance to join the Battle School and train as a knight, but decides to continue as a ranger.

The Ruins of Gorlan could have been formulaic but it is something more than our usual coming of age/fantasy story. Will is a real character, well drawn and interesting. True, we don’t feel like we would recognize him if we met, but for a 200 page juvenile fantasy the characterization is excellent. Halt and even Will’s old fellow ward Horace are also well crafted. A few minor characters are a bit on the flimsy side, but perfectly well done for a short book aimed at younger readers.

Best of all, The Ruins of Gorlan does not read like a book for kids. The ideas and language are perfectly enjoyable for adults who want a fast read that’s enjoyable and fun.

I expect most teens and pre-teens would enjoy this. The character is fun, the plot moves and the setting, especially the plain with the Stone Flutes, was great. The story moves right to the final action where Will, with the Baron, Sir Rodney and Halt confront the monstrous Kalkara. Will takes the decisive action, but it was hinted earlier and used his wits rather than his brawn, perfectly fitting the book.

The Ruins of Gorlan is listed as Book One of the Ranger’s Apprentice series and now (April, 2013) there are eleven books in the series with book twelve near release.

I recommend this one.

4 Stars

Review: A Measure of Disorder YA Fantasy Fiction Alan Tucker

by Leave a Comment

A Measure of Disorder is truly meant for younger readers, 10 to maybe 15 years old. It is not adult fiction that happens to have young characters.

It’s the sort of book that middle school kids would find fascinating, sweeping story, interesting world building, heroic kids, minor relationship issues. The reviews on Amazon by younger readers praise this to the skies.

Author Alan Tucker’s novel has the usual YA flaws:  Things just happen with major difficulties somehow swept aside, kids are smarter and more capable than adults, writing style is somewhat simplistic.  Tucker’s characters act the way kids act:  intensely self-focused, idealistic and easy to manipulate and everything is urgent/now/important/critical.

I didn’t care for the book but was curious enough about just what was going on to read about half way through. But when I got to the section where one group of kids agrees to go back to our Earth and steal toxic (read radioactive) waste to give their “benefactor” an edge, I basically quit. I paged through to the end to see whether our heroine Jenny made it back home, then quit.

From a moral point of view, the Mother’s (as in Mother Earth) view that good and evil, law and chaos must be balanced and that one is not innately better than the other disturbed me. I hope our kids don’t believe that hogwash. It’s also hard to believe that anyone would be gullible enough to steal radioactive waste. Yeesh.

A Measure of Disorder is meant as the first book in the Mother-Earth series. The second book is A Cure for Chaos. I won’t be reading this second book, but if you are middle school you’ll probably love it.

2 Stars