Book 3: Hart's Hope

I read Drowned Ammet on the flight to the conference, and then started this one and read it on the way home.

Hart's Hope by Orson Scott Card


I'm something of an Orson Scott Card junkie. I read his online column (www.hatrack.com if you're interested), and I did a thesis paper on his works in high school. If you're unfamiliar with him, he's one of the best sci-fi writers today, probably ever. His first novel was Ender's Game, which is still ridiculously popular. He's written about 30 or so full length novels, and a few volumes of short stories, and I've read pretty much all of it.

I really liked this book because of how raw it is. It's really easy to tell OSC's early books from his later ones, because the earlier ones are so much more gruesome. In Ender's Game, children kill each other. In Treason, mutants grow extra limbs, and will cut off their own arms to avoid being harvested by their peers for body parts. Not to be outdone, Hart's Hope starts out with the rape of a young teenage girl. This makes her so bitter that she hoards all the magical power she can to kill the man that raped her and stole the throne that was rightfully hers. Although this little summary might not show it, the man that raped her, Palicrovol, is actually the "good guy" and his son by another woman eventually grows to overthrow the evil queen.

There's only one thing I have to say about this book that isn't absolutely glowing praise: the style of this one takes a while to get into, but once you do get into it, it absolutely works for this story. It's told in the style of a folktale, very matter-of-factly, with the narrator not delving into the deeper emotions and motivations of the main characters. It reminded me a little of the Bible, but I think you'd have to read it to really understand why since I can't explain that association.

This book does raise some questions that aren't so easily answered. By Palicrovol's "act of mercy" in not killing the child he had to rape, he created a monster that was out for revenge. But he thought he was doing right by overthrowing the child's father, and evil monarch. Who is worse? Palicrovol, for his single deliberate but evil act? Or Asineth, driven mad with revenge, who was broken as a child but will now stop at nothing to get back at Palicrovol? This book is a beautiful example of how there are two very different sides to every story.

Book 2: Drowned Ammet

I went to a conference right after the New Year, and I took a couple of easy reads to finish on the plane. The first book, which I both started and finished on the 5.5 hour trip out, was the second in the Dalemark Quartet by the incomparable Diana Wynne Jones.

Drowned Ammet by Diana Wynne Jones


This book follows the story of the young boy Alhammit (called Mitt) in a fictional land called Dalemark. He lives with his family in South Holand, and they are happy until the evil Earl Hadd and his tax collectors force them into poverty. Mitt vows revenge for his family's sake, and plans to assassinate the earl, but his escape plan goes wrong and he is left stranded on a boat with the earl's young neice and nephew.

For those unfamiliar with Diana Wynne Jones, she's like JK Rowling, but before JK Rowling was JK Rowling. She's been writing young adult fantasy for a long time, and her books are always entertaining with creative plotlines. This is the second in a quartet (which I plan to finish this year). From what I understand, the first three books are only slightly overlapping, and they mostly have just the setting in common, with completely independent characters. The first book, Cart and Cwidder, follows a family of traveling musicians around Dalemark. The fourth book in the series will have characters from the first three come together to do something about the political unrest in their home country.

I should probably preface this by saying that I love pretty much everything I've ever read by DWJ. It's good for a day when I just want to escape into something. Her books are absorbing, but since they're children's books, they're also pretty quick reads. This book, however, wasn't the best of hers that I've read. The twist at the end was something I predicted pretty early on; in fact, it seemed so obvious that I was sure there was another twist coming. But no - the one I predicted was the only twist, so that was a bit of a disappointment. However, having said that, I will say that I love how dynamic her characters are. So often, the characters in books aren't really changed by their experiences, but her characters always have to confront their own faults and change in believable ways.

In short, not the best of her books that I've read, but better than some by others. I'll definitely finish the series.

Book 1: Marie Antoinette: The Journey

I'm counting this book for the challenge even though I started it around Christmas and finished it early on January 2.

Marie Antoinette: The Journey by Antonia Fraser



I chose to read this book because I'm going to Paris for a conference in July, and I wanted to know a little more about French history. I also saw previews for the new movie with Kirsten Dunst, and it looks quirky and awesome and I'm looking forward to seeing it tomorrow evening.

The book itself was better than I expected - I've had trouble following through with some history-type books in the past, and was worried I'd get bogged down and not finish it. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find it's almost a page-turner. I'm pretty easy to please sometimes; I thoroughly enjoyed the picture sections on glossy paper, especially when they showed a painting or artifact that was the center of some royal scandal or upset.

Overall, the book paints a fairly sympathetic picture of Marie Antoinette, but at the same time you feel that it's not that Antonia Fraser went easy on her; rather, it's more like popular history has been too harsh. The book doesn't hide her flaws; it just doesn't paint her as the villain most people think of her as. While Fraser does mention the excessive spending, she also points out that was how all royals of the time behaved, not just Antoinette. She also spends a good amount of paper detailing how family-oriented Marie Antoinette was, as well as how much she actually liked the public and used any opportunity to give money to the poor. In the end, I was actually sad that she was beheaded. (What?!? That's not spoiling it. Also, the Titanic sinks and Bruce Willis was a ghost the whole time.)

I'm also on the lookout now for a good book of the general history of France. The reviews of Alistair Horne's books aren't that great, so I'd like some other recs if you've got 'em. I want to know what I'm looking at when I visit Paris in July!

Mission Statement!

Hello! I am Megan, and this is my blog. I intend to take the 50 book challenge this year, and I will write ALL ABOUT IT on this blog. I'm already behind, though - I've read 4.5 books already and reviewed none of them!

Anyway, the idea is that I will read about one book a week (or more likely go several weeks without finishing one and then finish a bunch in a flurry of excitement). This should be pretty challenging for me, since silly little things like graduate school tend to get in the way of me reading. Make no mistake though - I love to read! I just never have time.

About me: I'm a 23-year-old grad student, and I study biology - specifically salamanders and lizards, and that's really as much as I can say without getting ridiculously technical about what I do. I have a small zoo at my apartment - two rabbits, an axolotl salamander, two mice, and (soon) a tiger salamander. My mom is a librarian, and I was a librarian for a while in undergrad, and I've always loved to read. I read several different genres - fantasy (but not the epic, farmboy-realizes-his-magical-destiny kind), sci-fi, young adult novels with interesting covers, the occasional graphic novel that my boyfriend leaves at my apartment, lots of regular fiction of the best-seller variety, and sometimes history or natural science non-fiction stuff. I don't really plan to read anything particular for this challenge. I'm treating it more like a challenge to see how many books I read in a year. I think I read about 35 last year, so I'm hoping I can push that up to 50 this year if I actually have a goal and a place to record my progress.

Usually, before I type up a review about a book, I really like to go to Amazon.com and read the reviews for the book over there. I like to say it helps me crystallize my thoughts, but really, I just love to read the bad reviews.

Oh! I should also say that if you somehow ended up here without seeing the wonderful blog over at 50books.com first, you should totally check that one out; it's way better than mine will ever be, I think.

On to the books!