Book Review: Shadowfell by Juliet Marillier

Shadowfell by Juliet Marillier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Random House provided a free ARC of this book for review purposes.

Neryn has a special and dangerous gift: she can see the Good Folk, interact with them, and enlist their help. But in Alban, such gifts are banned except when used in the service of the king, and Neryn is constantly on the run from the king's Enforcers. When her father dies, leaving her completely alone, her running takes on a new focus: to reach Shadowfell, where rumor has a band of rebels living. To complicate matters, she meets Flint, a secretive young man, who may help her--or drag her to the king's Enforcers.

I was quite thrilled to get the ARC of this book, mostly because Marillier is one of the authors I'm using in my dissertation. Besides that, though, I really enjoy her adult works. While this was less complicated than, for example, her Sevenwaters books--stylistically, politically, and structurally--Marillier in no way talks down to her audience, and I think the only thing making it truly YA is the simplified style and the young protagonist. Marillier does not shy away from tough subjects such as the threat of rape, or death, or the horrors that the king visits on his own people.

If I have any complaint, it's that Neryn's feelings for Flint bounce back and forth at almost whiplash speeds. She trusts him, then she doesn't; she likes him, then she hates him; he's essential to her survival, then she wants nothing to do with him. Granted, the reasons for her feelings are real and understandable, especially considering how secretive Flint is and how horrible the truth is when he finally shares it, but toward the end the constant back-and-forth did get a bit much. However, she is a teenager under a lot of stress, trying to find out who she is and what she's capable of, so perhaps she can be excused a bit of emotional see-sawing.

This is a very nice book that brilliantly sets up the rest of the series, and I can't wait to read it.

Shadowfell will be available in bookstores Sept. 11, 2012.

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Book Review: Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

Let's Pretend This Never Happened: by Jenny Lawson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Jenny Lawson, aka "The Bloggess," shares memories of her childhood and early adulthood with exactly the sort of continuous, stream-of-consciousness writing that just gets more absurd as the long sentences continue that readers of her blog have come to know and love. Hilariously funny yet punctuated with heartbreak and poignancy, Let's Pretend This Never Happened had me laughing until I cried, then feeling bad about laughing at the wry twists she placed on terrible life events. (Though there is at least one said life event that is not funny. In any way. And had me crying not from laughing too hard.)

The chapters are mostly very short, which helps to take her over-the-top (but completely true, of course!) stories in small bites if you're a bit put off by them, and of course Lawson includes metacommentary about the length of her chapters. Each is about the length of a blog post (in fact, I recognized at least one as lifted directly from her blog), but they're connected enough that I found it difficult to put the book down; I had to know what happened after this insane adventure and what the fallout was--mostly from Victor, the long-suffering husband.

Keep reading after the epilogue--it will help you win arguments in the future.

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Book Review: The Lady of the Rivers by Phillipa Gregory

The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory


I'm not giving this book any stars because I can't quite put a finger on why I'm not finishing it. It might be the present-tense narration, which was somehow more distracting than in some of the other books I've read recently (such as Divergent). It wasn't the historical accuracy, because other than the fantasy aspects, Gregory had those bang-on. Maybe I just couldn't identify with the main character, who seemed a bit milquetoast. Whatever the reason, this book wasn't for me.

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Preliminary Exam Results

This morning I was informed by the chair of Graduate Studies in English that I passed the written portion of the Old and Middle English preliminary exam.

I do have a bit of work to do to prep for the orals, which should be within the next week to two weeks (max), but the big part, the humongously stressful part, the part that sent me into rolling panic attacks for the last several weeks, is done.  And I'm one step closer to candidacy and a PhD.

Book Review: The Maid and the Queen by Nancy Goldstone

The Maid and the Queen: The Secret History of Joan of Arc by Nancy Goldstone
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a very well-written guide to Yolande of Aragon and her relationship to Joan of Arc. Most people (I think) know who Joan is and possibly sketchy details of her life, but few know that she was sponsored by a queen--or why. Goldstone has written an incredibly readable, non-historian-friendly book which provides synthesis and analysis of the pressures and influences on both women and their place in history.  When I have more time, I definitely plan to read it again to get an even better understanding of what was happening with these women at this point in history.

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A Note on My Rating System