2017 Reading Challenge #08 - 13

Y'all:

Let me get everyone caught up on my books I've been reading lately. Maybe, moving forward, I'll do a monthly entry for what I've read, making more room on my blog for updates (updates that, well, I am all too forgetful to keep up with regularly). Anyway, one day at a time.

Song of the Lioness quartet
Tamora Pierce

Well, we certainly got sidetracked...but in a good way. Cat introduced me to The Song of the Lioness Quartet, and I'm sad I never read this series when I was a little girl (spoiler alert: I was never a little girl). Anyway, these were fantastic books!

Tamora Pierce created an interesting world that feels very real, even though magic is a thing in her books. I grew up reading various fantasy novels (mostly Dungeons & Dragons novels), and it's always interesting to me to see how each world works. Magic in this world is a Gift, and while training isn't necessary to use it, you need to be gifted in the first place. Alanna is a noble, so we get to experience her life at the palace--BUT she's a knight-in-training, so we see the world of the nobles through that lens.

I enjoyed the four-novel story thoroughly. I have a few quibbles with decisions Pierce made in the telling, but overall, I would recommend The Song of the Lioness Quartet. I'm already planning to give the set as a gift.

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Two Boys Kissing
David Levithan


I'm just gonna dive right into this book. The title comes from two friends (and former boyfriends) who decide to break the world record for the longest kiss. There are other characters, other plots, but the two boys kissing forms the framework for the rest of the story. Oh, and there are no chapter breaks--if Harry and Craig don't get a break, neither do you!

I found the narrator to be the most striking aspect of this story. The narrator is the collective souls (?) of LGBTQ people who came before the characters in this book. The last generation watches on as the new generation tries to maneuver through life. They watch Harry and Craig's kiss and understand its greater significance. They watch Ryan and Avery, a relationship just forming. They watch the troubled Cooper reach the end of his rope. And though the narrator(s) see so much ugliness, pain, and hatred, their message is a positive one. They don't lose hope, they don't give up, even though they can't affect the living world any longer.

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The Name of the Star
Maureen Johnson

I must say that I'm glad I'm reading this one AFTER completing NaNoWriMo 2K16, because around about that time I also started working on Danielle Was Dead, my ongoing novel about a ghost (which you can read on the free Radish app). It was interesting to me to draw some parallels between the two stories as I read The Name of the Star.

This was one of the books Cat put on the list, and I knew hardly anything about it when I sat down to read it. I wasn't expecting what happened to Rory at all, so that was a pleasant surprise. The book wraps everything up nicely at the end, and though I know there are more in the series, they aren't absolutely necessary in the way that other series are written. Anyway, go read this book, then come back here and leave us a few comments.

Ok, that's got us all caught up nicely now, hmm?

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THE ONE AND ONLY,
MAC III


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