silver

I'm apparently on a re-read kick, and I have too many to review in the same way I did Mistborn (words! words everywhere!) so here's a quick thing:

The Sky is Falling, Looking at the Moon and The Lights Go On Again by Kit Pearson

The novels are about Norah and Gavin, two siblings who are sent to Canada as war guests as the Blitz ramps up in England. I'm struggling to think of a good descriptor of the books that involve plot, but the core of the books is really the emotional journeys that Norah and Gavin go through. They move into the house of Florence Ogilvie and Norah immediately has personality conflicts with Aunt Florence.

One thing I think Pearson did really well was portray unusual grief/emotions. Norah is young but she's twelve or so, and she doesn't want to leave England. She's angry with her parents for sending them away, afraid for them, ashamed of running away, angry she's being put in charge of her younger brother, resentful that he can't help being afraid and distressed himself. She's not happy with being put with the Ogilvies and she's not fitting into her new school. It's an ugly combination of emotions that nevertheless feels really honest.

There's also Gavin in The Lights Go On Again ( Major spoilers )It gets resolved and I love their grandfather, but I thought that his anger mixed with guilt towards him and Norah, too, was really honest.

Also I learned that Pearson is gay! That is pretty cool. I read her books when I was a kid and never looked at author bios (nor do I think they would have mentioned it). She's also from Alberta!

The Secrets of the Jedi by Jude Watson

Ahh, yes, my Star Wars obsession. When I say I love Star Wars what I actually mean is "the Prequel EU books" and Jude Watson is at least 50% responsible for this. I think the only post-RotJ books I've read is Zahn's Thrawn trilogy (which is really good, I get why people keep trying to sneak it into yuletide).

Secrets of the Jedi is about Obi-Wan and Siri's relationship. Watson also wrote Jedi Apprentice (about young Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon) and Jedi Quest (about Obi-Wan and Anakin) and The Secrets of the Jedi tie into Jedi Apprentice; this book ties into the Jedi Apprentice series. Obi-Wan and Siri, along with their respective masters, are assigned to escort a talented young boy named Talesan Fry to Coruscant after he discovers the plot of a group of bounty hunters. They're partly successful even though the Padawans get separated from their Masters halfway through, but Tal's parents are killed. Years later, when the galaxy is consumed by the Clone Wars, the Temple is informed that Tal, now a successful businessman, has created a perfect codebreaker and is offering the Republic the first bid.

Being Jedi, love is forbidden, and the book has an interesting treatment of it. In one of the Jedi Apprentice books Obi-Wan actually left the Jedi Order once; he felt that the Temple was not helping the civil war on Melida/Daan enough and refused to go back to Coruscant, staying to help. ( Spoilers for how they handle it )

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke

( Dragon Rider )

Snakecharm by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

( Snakecharm )

Hawk of May by Gillian Bradshaw

( Hawk of May )

Airborn and Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel

( Airborn )

Among Others

( Among Others )

--

I'm working on Conspiracy of Kings by Turner and enjoying it a lot so far, though I'm having some trouble with the different perspectives. I think I've reread the previous three books altogether too many times already and I understand them really well now, but there is a lot here I'm skimming--the political bits for one. Sophos is growing up though! Awww.

This post took long enough that I finished a book while writing it. I wish I was faster!

Yesterday someone linked an ebook archive and in a fit of nostalgia I downloaded Hawksong (actually, the entire Kiesha'ra series) and I read all of Hawksong, starting at 1am. I don't make good decisions past midnight, all right?

I'm not sure I can make a coherent review about this book! Everything is submerged in a flood of feelings about ZANE COBRIANA because oh yeah, I remember why I loved these so much! To say I ship Danica/Zane (or rather, OTP) would be a gross understatement. It has some weaknesses I never noticed years ago but the magnetic quality of the characters is still there. And I'm so glad.

I'm not sure I want to read past Hawksong either. Everything is okay right now. Like, ( spoilers )On the other hand, I kind of want to read the entire thing to see "black night on black ice", that phrase, again.

Some of my objections aren't really fair, seeing as it's a YA novel and quite short. The parts I was didn't like much were all the issues with Tuuli Thea and such; kingship is very personal there (perhaps even more, for the serpiente) and so it makes sense that personal decisions like marriage would affect the kingdom. Well, as though it didn't before. But the politics I had trouble buying, since I feel like there should be more complexity, more resistance, more internal inertia. The personal relationships were drawn beautifully, for such a small book. I felt that the politics needed more; they felt like one-on-one sorts of decisions, which is hard for me to swallow, accustomed to modern political systems.

Also looking back, I can see that Atwater-Rhodes knew the series' plot when she was writing it--the notes dropped in about the falcons, especially about the poison, are all setting it up.

I felt a bit bad for Rei, but on the other hand, haha, too bad! It's the same in with poor Raisa ana'Mariana and Amon Byrne, who are in a similar queen/protector situation; the other character is always more compelling. (Question: where do the snakeskin pants come from? I mean...did he skin someone for it? I find myself asking all sorts of magic-worldbuildy questions. Humans exist: that's why the Mistari moved, because the humans were taking over Central Asia. But what about plain sparrows, plain cobras?)

I don't think I wrote fic for this, but I definitely recall reading a lot of fanfiction.net. Now I'm mad that I've completed my fandom stocking and yuletide is far away. FFN says it has 200 works in--oh my god, apparently the Georgina Kincaid series has fifteen works excuse me I have to investigate this.