The Remedy of Books

I first saw this title mentioned in Publishers Weekly's children's e-mail as "book to watch." I thought it sounded interesting at the time, but forgot about it until the book trailer popped up in my Facebook feed a few weeks ago. After that, I moved it up in my "to-read" list, and I'm glad I did.

On the border between fantasy and magical realism, Serafina and the Black Cloak is a suspenseful supernatural mystery and a story about friendship and the realization that "normal" doesn't matter.

Official Blurb:

Serafina has never had a reason to disobey her pa and venture beyond the grounds of the Biltmore estate. There’s plenty to explore in her grand home, although she must take care to never be seen. None of the rich folk upstairs know that Serafina exists; she and her pa, the estate’s maintenance man, have secretly lived in the basement for as long as Serafina can remember.
But when children at the estate start disappearing, only Serafina knows who the culprit is: a terrifying man in a black cloak who stalks Biltmore’s corridors at night. Following her own harrowing escape, Serafina risks everything by joining forces with Braeden Vanderbilt, the young nephew of the Biltmore’s owners. Braeden and Serafina must uncover the Man in the Black Cloak’s true identity . . . before all of the children vanish one by one.
Serafina’s hunt leads her into the very forest that she has been taught to fear. There she discovers a forgotten legacy of magic, one that is bound to her own identity. In order to save the children of Biltmore, Serafina must seek the answers that will unlock the puzzle of her past.

Summary in a few words: Suspenseful; Atmospheric; Accessible

Suspenseful
I actually had no idea what to expect when I began reading this book. Even with the book trailer and the blurb indicating that there was something strange and supernatural happening, I wasn't prepared for how suddenly the reader is thrust into the mystery and the action. Within the first two chapters someone gets attacked and Serafina already has to run for her life. This is really drew me in right away.

Atmospheric
I've never been to Biltmore, but it was quite easy to imagine the grandeur of the old house. It's clear that Beatty did his research and was very familiar with the house's layout and how it would have been run. However, much more than the house, the nearby forest really has the images that will stick with me. The first scene in the forest with the coach was reminiscent of the early chapters of Dracula, when something as familiar and safe as a stagecoach journey suddenly becomes foreboding and dangerous. This section of the book that takes places in the forest is probably my favorite--I love abandoned places and, without spoiling anything, I'll just say that Serafina's journey into a certain part of the forest was deliciously creepy.

Accessible
Serafina is a wonderful character because despite being other-worldly, she is actually very like many children of her age. She has some physical differences which she worries and wonders about, and she ponders if she could fit in with "normal" people her age. She has certain things shes knows about but has never experienced (gifts, friends), and when she does experience these things for the first time, she worries whether or not she's "doing it right." I think many readers in the book's target audience will find a kindred spirit in Serafina.


This was a fun read and the action and suspense kept me turning pages well after bedtime. There were plenty of red herrings and I really enjoyed finding out more about Serafina and the type of creature she is.
It's also worth noting that this book accomplishes a rare feat in middle grade fantasy-- it has a protagonist who has a parent who is present throughout the book, is a developed character, and isn't the bad guy. So often in middle grade fantasy the parents must be Got Rid Of in order for the protagonist to start his or her adventure. It's understandable, and I'm not against stories that do this, but I really do appreciate when the parent(s) can remain in the picture without being evil or one-dimensional. Well done Robert Beatty.

Serafina and the Black Cloak book trailer:

I've avoided reading series recently because I really don't like having to wait for a next release in order to find out how a story continues. Especially after reading George R.R. Martin's A Feast for Crows several years ago, I thought I was done with reading series forever (that weird apologetic note at the end? What even was that?).
However I've started a couple middle grade series recently that are winning me back to the opinion that series can be good. It's great to read a book and already know the characters and world they're set in and be able to get down to the plot right away.
Two new favorites are Robin Stevens' Murder Most Unladylike series (aka Wells and Wong Mysteries in the US) and Jonathan Stroud's Lockwood & Co. books.

The Murder Most Unladylike series are very fun murder mysteries set in the 1930s. Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong are students at Deepdean boarding school for young ladies. After forming a secret detective society they find that the murders almost seem to follow them around.

There are four book published so far in the UK and two in the US with the release date for #5 (UK) set for later this year.

Here's the official blurb for the first book, Murder Most Unladylike (in the US, Murder is Bad Manners):

When Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong set up their very own deadly secret detective agency at Deepdean School for Girls, they struggle to find any truly exciting mysteries to investigate. (Unless you count the case of Lavinia’s missing tie. Which they don’t, really.)

But then Hazel discovers the Science Mistress, Miss Bell, lying dead in the Gym. She thinks it must all have been a terrible accident – but when she and Daisy return five minutes later, the body has disappeared.

Now the girls know a murder must have taken place . . . and there’s more than one person at Deepdean with a motive. Now Hazel and Daisy not only have a murder to solve: they have to prove a murder happened in the first place. Determined to get to the bottom of the crime before the killer strikes again (and before the police can get there first, naturally), Hazel and Daisy must hunt for evidence, spy on their suspects and use all the cunning, scheming and intuition they can muster. But will they succeed? And can their friendship stand the test?

I really love the setting both in time and place. Boarding schools hold a fascination for me as something both very foreign and very old-fashioned; although I know they still exist today (in the US as well as the UK!), I can't help imagining even today's boarding school students in 1920s clothes. Not all the books take place at the boarding school, but the other settings lend themselves well to mystery and Stevens provides helpful maps in each book to better imagine where and how the murders take places. As a big fan of Poirot--particularly on-screen (I love you David Suchet!)--the 1930s seems a perfect decade for mysteries.

The books are written from Hazel's perspective as she records the details of each case. The girls seem to have a sort of Sherlock and Watson relationship on the surface, but the reader quickly learns that far from simply recording Daisy's deductions, Hazel is actually the more thoughtful of the two and without the deductions of both girls the mysteries would not be solved. Both Hazel and Daisy are truly memorable characters and while they seem a bit over the top in their individual characteristics at first, they develop well over time and become more fleshed out as the books go on.

If I have one issue with this book it's that "Deepdean" is very difficult to say.

I definitely recommend these to anyone who likes an enjoyable and easy-to-read mystery with a good sense of humor.


As a side note, the buzz on Goodreads seems to indicate that the US versions have been unnecessarily "translated" for the American audience, but I have been reading the UK versions, so can't comment directly. As an American I found the UK versions completely comprehensible except that I had to look up how old the girls were as I'm not familiar with the school year system in the UK.

I first heard about The Lie Tree only last month at the Young Adult Literature Convention. Frances Hardinge was speaking on a panel and, along with the other panelists, gave a brief intro of herself and her latest book. She described it as a Victorian gothic novel about a tree that lives off people's lies.Whisper a lie to the tree and the more people who believe that lie, the more the tree will flourish. The tree produces a fruit for each lie, and whoever eats that fruit will learn a secret.
That was enough to hook me...that and Hardinge's fabulous hat.
So, I bought the book there and asked her to sign it. She drew me a goose. I'm still not sure why, but who says no to the offer of a goose drawing?

I thoroughly enjoyed every page of The Lie Tree. The book opens with an already gothic atmosphere--a dark and stormy day, on a boat, where people are keeping secrets.
Faith has always idolized her father, the naturalist Reverend Erasmus Sunderly, despite his steady chilliness toward her and his preferred treatment of her younger brother. With a quick mind and interest in science, Faith hopes one day to follow in her father's line of work. Unfortunately she is ahead of her time and finds herself trapped by the sexist views of the day that women are meant to be pretty, meek, and simple--not scientists.
When she finds out her father has been keeping dangerous, even life-threatening, secrets, it's up to Faith to try to save his reputation--but in the process she finds herself following in his dark footsteps.

The Lie Tree is beautifully atmospheric with vivid characters whose struggles I found very real. I found myself getting outraged along with Faith at the suffocating unfairness of the day's views of women. Hardinge does a fantastic job of creating a strong female who is able to use both her sharp intellect and society's negative perception of women's intellects to her advantage.

I also loved the mix of the real world setting and the addition of a fantastical magic tree that is never quite explained.

If I had one negative thing to say about the book it was that although the novel had several strong themes, the benightedness of men of the time and the unfair perception of women was a bit heavy handed. I don't think it was misrepresented, but it featured again and again, and I did find myself feeling the same theme could have been conveyed as strongly with a bit less restating.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes magical realism, gothic settings, and strong female characters. And, when I'm done with the stack of books I'm working through, I will look into more of Hardinge's books.

A River in the Sky - Elizabeth Peters
Genre: Mystery

Having been a fan of Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody mysteries for many years, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw she had written a new addition to the series.

Peters has set A River in the Sky in 1910, for fans of the series this means it comes between Guardian of the Horizon and A Falcon at the Portal.
At this time things are heating up politically in the Ottoman Empire and events are in motion that will lead toward the Ottoman-German Alliance in 1914. The Emersons end up smack in the middle of the political turmoil (as is their wont) which this year ends up being Jerusalem rather than Luxor.

Peters has always made her love for history evident in her books, and it has been something I particularly appreciate about this series. However I feel that in this particuar novel she got a bit carried away with wanting the setting to involve pre-WWI politics and the plot consequently became less focused.
I think that in trying to include English secret agents, German spies, underground resistance groups, Turkish militants and corrupt religious leaders too much explanation was necessary before the plot could move forward.
Unlike most other Amelia Peabody books there was not one main mystery which moved the plot along; instead there were mini mysteries that were more like intrigues and unexpected happenings and less like mysteries. The only mystery that continued through until the end was the identity of a particular person and the explanation ended up being very anti-climactic. A lot of the questions that were brought up by the plot either resolved themselves into some ordinary explanation or were explained away quickly at the end of the book.
The main reason I have come to love these books is the characters. One can't help but feel that Peters is writing a bit of herself into Amelia and the fact that she is willing to show when Amelia is being overconfident or ridiculous has always been endearing to me. The books are primarily written in first person (except for the bits from Rameses' journal) and Peters does a brilliant job of conveying a realistically flawed character - who is aware of her flaws - without allowing her to admit it explicitly. Unlike the plot, this aspect of Peters' writing was as good as ever.

Though I still love Peters' writing, I found this book to be mediocre and very very thin on plot.



That said, I still look forward excitedly to see what Elizabeth Peters will write next.


Currently reading:
The Secret Garden - Francis Hodgson Burnett
Unseen Academicals - Terry Pratchett
The Man Who Knew Too Much - G.K. Chesterton