Fire! Fire!

Gather round, children...

Today we tell a make-believe story about the person who collected books. She collected thousands and thousands and loved them all equally - or so she believed.

Then her worst nightmare struck! One day her house caught alight in a fiery blaze and she had to rescue her cats from the house so only had the room in her arms to take one book from the blaze. Just one. Which would it be?



Okay, I have actually brought myself out in a cold sweat at the idea of a fire burning my beloved collection of books!

I thought about this horrible, horrible situation just the other day and I wondered which of my books I would rescue above all others.

Here it is:

The silver stallion is the most special of all! A silver brumby is special, but he will be hunted by man and horse alike, and must be stronger than both. Thowra, the magnificent silver stallion, is king of the brumbies. But he must defend his herd from the mighty horse, The Brolga, in the most savage of struggles. That is not the only danger. Thowra needs all his speed and cunning to save his herd from capture by man. In a desperate chase through the mountains, it seems there is no longer anywhere for him to run to!


I am not embarrassed of my choice. I was given this book by my parents when I was seven years old and have read it pretty much every year since then. The cover is worn and the pages are yellowed and dog-eared. It is beloved and gives me nostalgia about the wonderful childhood I experienced. Pretty much all of my other books can be easily replaced with a stint online or a browse through my local bookstore - but that book is irreplaceable in my heart.

Please tell me yours! Children's books, favourite books, embarrassing books - which is the one book you'd save above all others?

The Power by L J Smith

The Power is the third and final book in The Secret Circle trilogy by L J Smith. In this story, the Circle are shattered by Faye's revelations at a time when they need to be at their strongest. Black John is back, and Cassie is horrified when it is revealed why she feels such a strong connection with him. He has returned to claim the Master Tools and become the leader of the coven of twelve that he had such a hand in creating - which means that one member of the Circle must die...

I think that L J Smith writes perfect teenage escapist fiction - as long as you suspend your disbelief and don't look for the plot holes. Although the first two books in the trilogy (The Initiation and The Captive) are pretty strong and I thoroughly enjoyed reading them, this third one did not captivate me in the same way.

My main problem was the sudden switch in focus between Nick and Adam, the two men that Cassie is attracted to. Because Adam is with Diana, and forbidden to Cassie, she looks to Nick for a relationship - and that relationship is written in a very sweet manner. Nick becomes a character that I really enjoyed reading about - the gradual unthawing of his cold manner and the way he becomes so protective of Cassie are extremely well-written. So it was a disappointment to discover the way that L J Smith chose to resolve the situation, and this coloured my reading experience.

I also didn't feel that there was enough book for the plot development that L J Smith added concerning the change in attitudes of the 'outsider' school children, and then the switch to something approaching truce. It all rattled through at a breakneck pace, which felt a little too fast. In the first two books the pace was balanced well with the plot development and the strong characterisations, but here it felt like Smith was trying to pack in too much.

As with The Initiation and The Power, I did love the way Smith wrote these characters. Over the course of all three books she has managed effectively to juggle twelve personalities, depicting their different attitudes, abilities and emotions with rare skill. There was never a moment when a name was mentioned and I thought 'Who is this one again?'

I read this trilogy with great nostalgia and fondness for characters that I first discovered in my teens, and I was pleasantly surprised to realise that the books stand up to both adult eyes and a second read. They give a lesson to any YA authors who wish to write strong female characters and genuinely gorgeous male characters. Recommended as a trilogy, despite the fact that the third book is not as strong.

Spirit by Gwyneth Jones

Taking The Count of Monte Cristo as her inspiration, in Spirit Gwyneth Jones writes a novel of betrayal and revenge. The novel follows the story of Gwibiwr, known as Bibi - daughter of one of the rebel chieftains of White Rocks - as she is offered the choice to either become a concubine or a servant within the household of Lady Nef. The first half of the novel deals with the political machinations and plotting of General Yu and Lady Nef, as they head on a delicate mission to Sigurt's World, and the 20-year imprisonment of Bibi; while the second half of the novel shows her path as she takes her revenge on those who caused her incarceration.

I confess that I have not read The Count of Monte Cristo, so I cannot comment on the faithfulness of Spirit to the source material - from comments I have read, it allegedly closely follows that tale of Edmond Dantes. The Count of Monte Cristo is known to be a story of blockbusting adventure and derring-do, but unfortunately I did not find Spirit to be the same.

There was elements of Spirit that I enjoyed. The worldbuilding was rich and imaginative, with aliens that were suitably bizarre and beyond human comprehension. I liked the ambiguity of sexuality and gender - especially given that in this version of The Count of Monte Cristo our protagonist is female, which enables the opportunity to highlight gender differences.

Gwyneth Jones manages to show a culture which has gone through many changes, thanks to the existence of alien species and the invention of the Buonarotti travel system. There is a dark underbelly, and a rich upper echelon of society, and both of these are given a strong identity.

With all that said, I found Spirit a challenge to read. The largest part of this came from the fact that I thought the prose was extremely dry. Some authors use a chatty style in their writing, in other cases prose is smooth as silk and very readable. Gwyneth Jones' writing reads rather more like a textbook, with complicated words to understand thanks to the alien cultures.

In addition to this, Jones does not stop to explain much of the complex situation or the many sci fi concepts she introduces. I was left very bewildered by what was actually occurring - especially because a major part of the plot (the fact that General Yu has backed the wrong horse and is trying to regain his political standing) takes place "off-screen", as it were.

A lot of the writing just confused me, in fact. I ended up feeling as though I was missing a great deal, and this never endears a book to me. This included passages such as:

" 'Oh yes, we knew what had happened, it was unmistakable...A group decided to become settlers. They said the Ground Station offered no protection: which is true, it's all ritual, and self-control. For a while they succeeded, in a strange way. Expeditions would suit-up and come out (I don't bother any more, I rely on magic), and find people they'd known, transformed into the descendants of the survivors of a crashed starship...' "

That passage should have been easy to understand; it should have been shorter with less redundant words - as it is, this is just one example of many where I had to read a paragraph two or even three times to make sure I was absorbing the detail I needed to.

On top of this, the characters were hard to love - perhaps because the prose was so dry. I felt as though I was receiving a report on their lives, as opposed to being able to really immerse myself in the danger and excitement of a failed mission and a revenge story. Bibi was a clever and strong heroine, but I didn't love her - and this means that the revenge portion of the novel would always fall a little flat, because I wasn't rooting for her to succeed.

In fact, the pacing of Spirit was also an issue. The build-up to the mission on Sigurt's World, the scene-setting, the section of the novel where Bibi finds herself imprisoned - all of this unfolded with a dreamlike, slow pace. In comparison, we whip through the section where Bibi exacts her revenge - and I'm never completely clear whether the comeuppance of those who caused her downfall is mere happenstance or through Bibi's actual actions.

There were a few characters that seemed entirely superfluous to the main meat of the plot - these were introduced quite late on and their adventures were very much a dead-end path when what I really wanted was to see how Bibi went about bringing down General Yu.

I had many issues with this book, and overall my enjoyment was limited. I was glad that I read through to the end and completed Bibi's story - I also liked Francois the Aleutian very much, but I struggled with Jones' style of writing and would probably hesitate in picking up a book of hers in the future.


Arthur Clarke thoughts: This is my second book of the six Arthur Clarke finalists, and it was a very different read from The City and The City. Leaving aside my enjoyment (or not) of the respective books, I can see why this book received its nomination: the worldbuilding and the sci fi elements of the novel are both weird and wonderful, and explore a future where Earth is just one of many cultures struggling to find harmony together. Where The City and The City studied nationalism and retaining the boundaries of a city state, Spirit looks to the stars and how our exploration of such can lead to petty squabbles and how warfare and politics will be massively scaled up. Hand on heart, though, I believe this one is an outsider for the win.

The Captive by L J Smith

The Captive is the second book in the Secret Circle trilogy by L J Smith. In this book Faye tightens her hold around Cassie - blackmailing her over her love for Adam and forcing her to betray Diana. At the same time the Circle learns that a dark power is on the loose and killing, and Cassie begins to suspect that the crystal skull recovered from Black John's articles is behind the deaths.

L J Smith has written a number of trilogies in the YA paranormal arena, and excels at the format. The middle book of her trilogies draws upon and builds the characters introduced in the first novel, while laying the groundwork for the main thrust of the plot that will be delivered in the final book. There was little overall resolution to any of the plotlines in this novel - in fact, it ends on rather a cliffhanger, so you might like to have the third book to hand prior to starting otherwise risk frustration at wanting to know what happens!

Here, we see Cassie grow and develop as a character. She begins to use her power more, and interact with all the members of the Secret Circle - which, in turn, brings some of them to the fore who were merely brush-stroked in the first book. For instance, Deborah becomes a girl that we are able to relate to more.

The reason I like this book and, indeed, the whole trilogy is that the writing is simple yet flowing. It is very easy to read - I swept through it in a single sitting, in fact. The main strength in the writing, as pointed out with the first book, is the excellent characterisation. You *want* to read about these characters, you care about what happens to them.

One negative point for me is that the magic is very simplistic - candles, crystals, herbs, that sort of thing. There is no real evidence of the magic that these teenagers are supposed to have within them, and suspension of disbelief is a little hard.

Regardless, the whole trilogy is worth picking up - if only to see how paranormal fantasy for young adults should be written! Recommended for anyone who is currently enjoying the explosion of fiction in the YA arena on the back of the Twilight craze.

Kick Ass - A Film Review

Kick-Ass is the film based on Mark Millar's comic and directed by Matthew Vaughn (who has worked with Guy Ritchie on Lock Stock). The plot deals with Dave, a high school geek who decides to put on a superhero costume and go out fighting crime, despite the fact he has no super powers. At the same time we meet Big Daddy, an ex-cop with a vengeance gig against evil drug lord Frank D'Amico, who has trained his 11 year-old daughter to become the vigilante Hit Girl.

Kick Ass is daft, frequently violent and never less than breathtakingly funny. From the moment that Hit Girl is introduced to the stunned audience (yep, with some very crude swearing that just somehow *works*, which surprises me given my post on profanity), to the entertaining use of a bazooker; from Red Mist's hair to the sweet relationship that develops between Dave and Katie thanks to her belief that he is gay - it is just a very funny film. I found myself smiling with delight at many of the fight scenes, and the sharp dialogue.

The plot was a little episodic at points, and suffered from a few lulls that will be much more noticeable on a second watch. Chloe Grace Moretz steals every scene she is in, and I did find myself waiting for her to return to the screen whenever she was absent. There were also a couple of rather shocking moments - I am not talking about the fight scenes (which were brutal, but suitably comic book-like) or the swearing (which fit with the type of film this is); rather it was an incident with a knife early in the career of Kick Ass. It was realistic, out of the blue and made my jaw hang - probably in a good way, since I really did not see it coming. It did make me a little uncomfortable, but that is a personal matter rather than a fault with the film itself.

Overall, Kick Ass provided a fantastic blend of action and comedy, showing a genuine flair and appreciation of comic books. I enjoyed the soundtrack and felt most of the songs contributed to the film perfectly. It was delightfully rude, extremely sassy and provided us with a fabulous new and tiny heroine in the form of Hit Girl. In my opinion, a piece of must-see cinema!

The City And The City by China Mieville

Summary: The City And The City is a hard-boiled detective novel with a difference. Set in a location that feels very Eastern European in tone, and not far removed from a real place, we follow Inspector Tyador Borlu of the Extreme Crime Squad as he begins investigations into the body of a murdered woman. The very effective spin that Mieville uses, which moves this novel from the crime shelves in the bookstores to the SFF shelves, is that the setting is actually two cities existing in the same location, governed in a sinister fashion by Breach. Borlu lives in Beszel, a grim city with featureless concrete and rattling trams, where the citizens wear few colours. The other city is Ul Qoma, and both cities exist in the same time and space. The citizens of each have learned from a young age to unsee and unsense the people and buildings of the other city. In the event that, say, a citizen of Ul Qoma acknowledges a citizen of Beszel, they are then subject to the jurisdiction of Breach.

"But pass through Copula Hall and she or he might leave Beszel, and at the end of the hall come back to exactly (corporeally) where they had just been, but in another country, a tourist, a marvelling visitor, to a street that shared the latitude-longitude of their own address, a street they had never visited before, whose architecture they had always unseen, to the Ul Qoman house sitting next to and a whole city away from their own building, unvisible there now they had come through, all the way across the Breach, back home."


My review: I have a couple of China Mieville books on my shelf already, and confess to never having picked them up so far. Somehow I thought they would be pretentious and wordy, and I could never quite tell which genre something like 'Perdido Street Station' fell under. When I decided to do the Arthur Clark shortlist read, I was both interested in reading my first Mieville book, but also feeling a little dread at the idea of picking up something that seemed so meta and impossibly clever. In fact, I will confess something more: I picked The City And The City up first out of the six to get it over with.

Having set the scene, I can now state categorically that this is one of the most powerful SFF books I have ever read, and is without doubt my top read of 2010 so far. I found it unbelievably accessible (especially considering my unfounded view of Mieville's work); stunningly imaginative and constantly entertaining. I am willing to abuse adjectives at length to convey my extremely high opinion of this book.

So why did I enjoy it so much? This is where the review becomes harder to write. Sometimes you just 'click' with a book and enjoy it thoroughly. This definitely happened. But it was more than that. While I read each page, I felt as though I was reading something important, clever and classic. In fact, I imagine the way I felt reading The City And The City would be the way the first person felt when picking up Dracula or Frankenstein: enjoying the book for what it is (a darn good story) but also conscious that this novel is something special and has the potential to resonate through generations of readers.

The story was tight, well-written, with excellent pacing. Thanks to the rather slight nature of the novel (a mere 312 pages, in my hardback edition), I found that there were no erroneous scenes or indulgently bloated descriptions - everything felt very lean, and helped lend the plot a driving urgency.

I enjoyed the characters. In particular, the first person perspective of Borlu enables us to experience the frustration, the fear and the eventual fall-out of the investigation. His familiarity with the city of Beszel immediately gives Ul Qoma an exotic flavour, giving strength to the concept that these are two very separate places co-existing in the same location. He is ably assisted by a short cast of secondary characters, with their own motivations and foibles. None of these characters felt at all as though they were purely there to drive the story along - all of them felt fully-realised.

The way that Mieville declines to really delve into the back story of his main character is also well-done. It is not necessary for the plot, and therefore we catch only a glimpse, a mere snapshot, into the life of Borlu. This for me was far more effective writing and had more of an impact than if Mieville had lovingly dwelt on events that were in the past and had no relevance at all to the present time.

Beyond all of that, and the exceptionally clear descriptions of the two cities, concept is everything. If this had been a straight-up detective novel, I would have enjoyed it thoroughly, what with the twists and red herrings thrown into the mix as well. Add into that the notion of these two cities co-existing - allowing Mieville to explore issues such as nationalism, patriotism and a 'big brother' entity - and you have a killer novel that delivers on every level.

This will be one of the very rare reviews when I do not strive to find something that I disliked to balance the review. It would be nitpicking for the sake of it, and I'm not sure I could honestly find something that I didn't like enough to discuss it impartially.

Arthur Clark thoughts: When I picked up this book, I didn't know that it was about to pick up the BSFA award, or be nominated for a Hugo, although that has now happened. What I do know is that, even without those two events occurring, I would still be holding this book up as probably the one that should and will win. I am prepared to be swayed as I read the other five books in the shortlist, but I am unsure if any can top the sheer breathtaking imagination of The City and The City. I just hope that I don't find the rest a disappointment!

Eastercon! (Odyssey 2010)

I have never been to a con before. In fact, prior to starting the book blogging, I had never even heard of cons or knew what they involved. When some of my Twitter pals began talking excitedly about Eastercon, I confessed my lack of knowledge and was fervently encouraged by enough people to think about trying it out. I was phased at the idea of attending for more than one day on my first outing (in case I didn't find people who would talk to me, or in case I really didn't enjoy it), so I decided on a one day outing. To my great delight, two other con virgins (Jason aka Kamvision and Cara aka murf61) also decided to come along on the Saturday and we agreed to meet up for the day.


(Me and Cara)


(Me and Jason)


Panels

We attended three panels on the Saturday. The first of these was "Female Superheroes - Why Aren't There More of Them?" held at the heinously early time of 9am in the morning. I am not a massive comics/graphic novels fan but I did want to show my support to Sam Sykes, who came over from the States and had been drafted in to chat about (in his words) 'feminism and tight pants'. The other members of the panel were Paul Cornell, Esther Friesner and Roz Kaveney. I found this panel an entertaining listen, although I felt they meandered into manga a little too much and didn't really address the fact that the skimpy costumes and unrealistic body image portrayed in comics may be a contributing factor to why more women don't read comics. It was a good way to start the day though, and gave me a few comics I will no doubt check out now.

The second panel was one I had earmarked as soon as I saw the programme, and it was attended by an absolute mass of people: "Writers and the Web". The panellists this time were Joe Abercrombie, Mark Charan Newton, John Meaney and Maura McHugh. I really loved this panel! All the panellists were very knowledgeable about the ways in which authors can utilise the web, but came from entirely different perspectives so this generated some lively discussion. Add in a number of intelligent questions from the audience, and it made for an hour that flew by. The interaction between Mark and Joe, in particular, was enormously amusing, but showed a great love and appreciation for their fans.

The third and last panel was "Bridging the Gap: SF/F and Social Media" - completely different from the other two, more traditional panels. This event was broadcast live and accepted questions from virtual attendees. It had its own hashtag generated for Twitter users (#LiveCon) and most of the attendees in the room were not only joining in the debate physically, but via Twitter as well. Which was great for those who had iPhones or some other way of connecting to the virtual part of the panel. For those of us luddites whose phones do not have this function, it felt a little as though we only had half of the conversation. I liked the idea of the panel and some of the discussion was very interesting, but if I attend one like this again I shall make sure I have the necessary equipment to enjoy it completely!



I would not be the person you now know me to be if I didn't come home with at least some swag in the form of books! The Dealer's Room was a particular highlight, including the charity shop table (where I picked up the Campbell book on the cheap) and the Gollancz stand, which was just complete book candy for me since they brought along some of their forthcoming releases. While at the stand I made friends with Simon Spanton (I had a complete geek girl moment when I realised he knew my name!) and got Sykes to autograph his book for me. Well, he did better than that, as you can see from the picture below:



You will probably recognise one of those doodles as a pug. The other is apparently a mandrill (although someone did ask whether it might not be considered a self portrait!)

I also purchased two of the forthcoming YA books from the Gollancz imprint, which I am beyond excited about reading!



In my pile of swag you can also find three of the newer releases from Angry Robot Books, which Lee Harris brought along for me (thank you Lee! Still owe you smooches!)

Lee, myself and Carolyn from Book Chick City had a lovely little chat about various bits and pieces while ensconced in the Polo Lounge (which became my home away from home on the Saturday).


(Lee looking very suave)

The rest of my day, apart from panels and having a spin round the Dealer's Room, was spent being sociable and chatting to all manner of like-minded people.

I spent a very civilised hour with Sam Sykes having lunch, where we discussed reviews, cover art and pugs over McDonalds (yeah, but it was cheaper than pretty much anything in the hotel to eat!) Considering his many threats of violence on the run up to the con, it was pleasant to get a picture of Sam and Mr Abercrombie not brawling to the death!



The latest issue of SFX (which contained glowing reviews of both Sykes' Tome of the Undergates and Stephen Deas' King of the Crags) proved of particular interest to Simon Spanton:



I had a really lovely chat with Julie Crisp about Mieville's The City and The City and my less than positive review of Apartment 16 (which, thankfully, she was not disconcerted by at all - and she shouldn't be; the book has been garnering great reviews elsewhere). Here is a picture of Julie and Mark Charan Newton:



I also spent most of the day with Adam aka Ghostfinder on Twitter. He was great company although woefully knows nothing about football! In the picture below, it looks like I am sneaking up on him in order to steal books or something, but he knew I was there. I think.



I managed to fit in a catch-up with Alex Bell and we were joined by Suzanne McLeod, a very fine author (read her books! You should totally read Alex's books too!) We chatted about the mysterious identity of a chap in a blue jumper being courted on the Gollancz table, and Alex offered us some Bacon Beans that Sam brought across from the States for her. Man, these divided opinion. Personally, you could not pay me to eat one of those things again!



Me and Liz finally got to chat for longer than two minutes (which is what happened at the Headline party!) I managed to grab a picture of her, but not of Mark or Gav from Next Read (who it was lovely to talk to about books, reviewing, awards and hot authors! Or maybe the latter was just me and Jon Weir!)



Finally, for your amusement (and the clear amusement/bemusement of the Polo Lounge on the day) here is a picture of Jason and I sporting moustaches in preparation for a joint feature we are planning!



And that's a wrap! I talked to far more people than I had space to mention here - and all were unbelievably lovely. I wish I had taken far more pictures of the many great events that happened across the day.

Basically, I adored my day out at Eastercon. For anyone wondering whether attending a con is for them, I can only say "Go and do it!" Next year I am in for the long haul of the full weekend, for sure. I was gutted that I had to leave on Saturday night (through illness, rather than lack of a bed - which I was offered by a few kind folk, should I have wanted to stay!)

(Massive apologies to anyone who feels offended by not being mentioned in the above post. Kick me in the comments section or via Twitter!)

Profanity - yay or nay? (strong language used)

A few days back I published my review of Apartment 16 by Adam Nevill. One of the points I made about the book was the level of profanity - and this was the point picked up by those who kindly came to make comment on said review. It got me thinking on the subject of profanity in book - and the line which we all have (conscious or not) beyond which our comfort level has been breached.

Mine is 'cunt'. I hate the fact I've even written it there. I never use it myself and I don't like seeing it in the literature I read. This is the word that Adam Nevill used in Apartment 16 that I took such a dislike to - my personal line was crossed at that point.

Yesterday at Eastercon I had a very interesting chat with Jason (Kamvision) and Cara (murf61) on the subject.

Cara also has issues with the same word - so is it a gender thing? No, not at all, it seems, because other women who read my review disagreed on my point that the swearing was rife. Maybe some women feel more uncomfortable with that particular word, but to others it is absolutely normal.

Is it the particular genre? Jason felt that this might be part of the issue. I confess, I am not the most familiar with the horror genre, and so I do not know whether Nevill's book contains a lot of swearing in comparison to other novels in the same genre. In addition, horror is a genre where attempting to shock the reader is not uncommon and so using a word like 'cunt' can be said to be a part of this.

Is it the setting used in the novel? Some areas in London (and, indeed, the country) will see certain profanities employed over others. Again, Jason pointed out this fact and said that the word might therefore have been used to help cement and authenticate the particular location of Nevill's novel (in which case, he should be admired rather than castigated for using 'cunt'!)

I know that in my case familiarity does breed contempt. When I was youthful and much more innocent than now, the word 'fuck' in a book would send my jaw to my chin in shock, but these days I am so familiar with hearing it, seeing it written, speaking it myself that this word has lost any ability to concern me. However, to other people, this word is still way across that personal line that they have where they are no longer comfortable.

Just as another interesting point, I want to mention the fact that books are now pretty much the only form of media where there is no guidance on what age should be reading the books. The word 'cunt' in a TV show sends it way past the watershed time when it is expected that children will be up; in a film or a videogame it will guarantee an '18' rating. However, a child can walk into a bookstore or a library and take any book without their age being asked. Although it is not to do with swearing, I read Jean M Auel's books at a very young age - and the amount of explicit sex in them is just unreal considering that I was able to take them out of the library with no one questioning my age. At that point, you might say it is a parent's responsibility to monitor a child's reading - but that then depends on said parent reading everything their child shows an interest in to ensure they are comfortable with the subject matter.

I guess the only way I can conclude this rather free-form blog post is with the idea that we do have very personal opinions on this - what one person finds uncomfortable another person will be completely fine with.

I would be interested to hear the point of view of other people on this: profanity - yay or nay? Where do you draw your line?

The Initiation by L J Smith

Cassie Blake is distraught when her mother decides to uproot to the small town of New Salem, in order to take care of a grandmother that Cassie had never even met before. But that is only the start of her problems. Starting a new school, trying to make new friends - and discovering that some of the people she would most like to befriend are all part of some secret Club that Cassie is not permitted to join. Then a girl dies, and Cassie is finally initiated into the Secret Circle, learning that magic is more than just a folktale.

These days the YA market for books is flooded with paranormal activity - witches amongst them. But in 1992 when L J Smith first wrote The Secret Circle trilogy it was something fresh and new - and should be reviewed with that in mind. L J Smith was producing well-written compulsive novels about teenagers in love LONG before Edward Cullen was even a glint in Meyer's eye.

The Initiation reads at a breakneck speed. Smith does not linger on too many opening details, just sets the scene so that Cassie is placed in New Salem ready for the main action to begin. This as far as I am concerned is a positive, because Cassie's life prior to her move is not of interest and therefore should not be lovingly expanded.

For me, the biggest strength of Smith's writing is the characters. Here she handles a main cast of twelve, with some peripheral characters who will play a further role in the subsequent two novels of the trilogy. To sufficiently flesh them out and give them strong characteristics that ensure you want to read more about them in such a slight novel (my edition, only 287 pages) takes real skill. And her physical descriptions are just wonderful:

"It occurred to her, quite incidentally, that these were probably the three most beautiful girls she'd ever seen. It wasn't just that each had perfect skin, free of the slightest trace of teenage blemishes. It wasn't their gorgeous hair: Deborah's dark disordered curls, Faye's pitch-black mane, and Suzan's cloud of reddish gold. It wasn't even the way they set each other off, each one's distinctive type enhancing the others' instead of detracting from them. It was something else...A kind of confidence and self-possession...An inner strength, an energy..."

Cassie is a very strong main character - by her own admission, she is shy and not very outgoing. However, these traits never become the absolute focus of Cassie - rather, they are just a part of who she was. There is also evidence that she has massive potential for growth and character development in future novels, which I am looking forward to exploring. In fact, most of the characters feel very real - they have foibles, and both good and bad qualities. The Henderson brothers and Sean suffer a little from not gaining much 'screen time', but I feel sure this will be remedied.

I also love the innocence of the romance - this is definitely YA from early 90s in content. Kissing is as far as these teens are prepared to go, and I for one love this. Too often in YA books I read that have been published more recently there is far too much focus on young girls going further than they perhaps should, and The Initiation harks back to a more chaste time.

The only real problem with this novel is it is very much the opening book in a trilogy, so we are really only getting to know the characters and touching on the main gist of the plot, which will be fleshed out in The Captive.

In conclusion, anyone who has come to the YA paranormal romance genre recently should definitely check out this opening novel in a classic trilogy. I adore all three books beyond reason and very nostalgically. L J Smith has a fine ability to write characters you will end up caring deeply about, and her prose is magnificent. Highly recommended.

Looking Back on March, Looking Forward to April

I feel as though March is the month where I have found my blogging feet. I still haven't discovered where my blogging is going, in terms of regular features, and I still seem to be floundering while trying to produce decent content, but I at least managed to get up posts on most days in March and my number of visitors is on the rise so that looks to be a promising direction!





It's been a slow month for me, in terms of books read and I blame Twitter entirely. Actually, I blame a busy time at work, a few nights out and a couple of personal issues! But I still managed to rack up six books, those being:

Kiss Chase by Fiona Walker
Wolfsangel by M D Lachlan (review forthcoming closer to release date)
Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz
A Matter of Blood by Sarah Pinborough
A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin
The Midnight Mayor by Kate Griffin

I also posted two reviews for books read in previous months: the long awaited Tome of the Undergates by Sam Sykes and King Maker by Maurice Broaddus. I was particularly happy with that latter review since Angry Robot Books highlighted it as the best negative review you'll ever read - I think that was my proudest moment in March!

March was also the month that Floor to Ceiling books went on tour! I attended the Mad Hatter's Tea Party and went to the Headline Bloggers Party. Both of these events were fabulous and only make me more keen to meet other bloggers and authors.

I conducted two interviews: one with the lovely Sarah Pinborough (after thoroughly enjoying her book!) and the other with Michaela Deas, in a well-received feature about the other halves of authors.

I was also invited to join in Reviewer Time by the lovely Harry Markov, which I thoroughly enjoyed - who doesn't love talking about themselves?!

Apart from that, I managed a handful of articles! Phew, March turned out to be quite a busy one!

And April looks to be no quieter!

Recently, in a moment of madness, I decided to read the six novels shortlisted for the Arthur Clark award
and I'm currently working my way through The City and The City by China Mieville. Consequently, I think other reading (and everything else) will be taking a back seat for the month of April!

So come cheer me on in my reading endeavours this month - hope to see you soon.