A Great and Terrible Beauty

April 21, 2007 at 6:35 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, Young Adult Literature

38. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray (Historical Fantasy)

My dad bought this for my little sister, but she kindly let me borrow it on Wednesday night. I didn’t realize that it was a YA novel until after I started reading it (not that that would have stopped me), because the cover doesn’t immediately suggest it. Consequently, this book wasn’t what I was expecting, but it was in no way a disappointment.

Gemma Doyle is a 16-year-old English girl living with her parents in Victorian India. She’s just an ordinary, sullen teenager, until the day her mother is approached on the street by an Indian merchant, and tragedy strikes her family. It isn’t until she’s sent to Spence, a finishing school in London, that she begins to understand who and what she is.

The story is well-told, and moves quite quickly. And is surprisingly humorous at times. I was impressed by the writing, especially since it contains a sophistication that few authors seem to think is appropriate for YA readers, and which was probably a large part of what made it a national bestseller. I’m looking forward to reading the sequel, Rebel Angels, and the third novel in the series, The Sweet Far Thing, comes out on December 26. Maybe I’ll even buy them—one of the things that makes YA novels so appealing is how much cheaper they are than adult books, even in editions of equal quality.

Books read: 38/300 (12.7%)
Pages read: 9,956/75,000 (13.3%)
Days passed: 111/365 (30.4%)

Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2007, Gemma Doyle, Libba Bray

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Swordspoint

April 21, 2007 at 5:57 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror

37. Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner (Fantasy)

I don’t remember much about my initial reaction to this book, since I actually read it on February 14, but never got around to writing about it here. I did mention it on my livejournal, though:

I read Ellen Kushner’s Swordspoint last night, and it was very enjoyable. I’m looking forward to checking out the sequels. I was bothered by the way she writes women, though. Only two of the main characters are women: one an irritatingly expert manipulator, the other fairly weak and a bit of a fool. It’s not that their characters aren’t perfectly well-drawn and plausible, but maybe if all the POV characters weren’t men, we’d get a more balanced view of women as a whole. It’s not something that stopped me from liking the book a lot, but it’s something I’ve noticed myself becoming highly conscious of in a way I never used to be.

I do know that I was impressed with her world-building, and that I enjoyed both the plot and the characters. It was nice that two of the main characters were gay, and even nicer that the plot had nothing to do with their sexuality.

Books read: 37/300
Pages read: 9,553/75,000

Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2007, Ellen Kushner

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