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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
I travelled far and wide, chancing upon lands thrillingly strange. Lands reeking of the corpses of Poetry, clothed in ink the color of spice, eyes wet with intrigue. I came across stars that twinkled at me, fluttering eyelashes coyly, winking down seductively. Deadly stars, untouchable in there burning beauty, enticing from afar with the promise of light. One heard tales of fools in delirium who had tried to reach out and caress these stars, envelop them in deep embrace for the width of a shuddering heartbeat, only to burst into flames, reduced to ashes in the blink of an eye. Stars like words and fools like readers who ventured too close and fell into obsession. Their graves lay in the Asylums Of Fantasy. Asylums were strange creatures. They spoke in whispers, groomed themselves to look as mysterious as possible, and everything they touched died a soft, slow death.
One day, an asylum silently beckoned me close. When I looked at it inquiringly, it smiled and led me to dew-licked leaves that lovingly carpeted a hidden path. A path that was as charming as if it had been cobbled but as wildly and irresistibly formidable as a serpent snaking it's way to some downy prey. It was called The Path Less Travelled. Like the dress of a temptress revealing one pale freckled shoulder, the road allowed a teasing glimpse of Adventure, shrouded tantalizingly in a blurry outline of mist. Fools are everywhere. Some dare to touch whirling stars. Others dare to walk on the most scandalous road they had ever laid eyes on. They all catch fire eventually.
If only the frying pan hadn't been so boring, one wouldn't be tempted to jump!
Alas, jump I did, tumbling crookedly down into the pages of this wonderful, magical book, giggling madly. From one page to another I hopped, tasting the whirlwind of Romance, running my tongue over the dagger of Philosophy. I had to dance in the lap of a sky the color of wet wildcat fur before I was allowed to fall down the rabbit hole. Landing in the arms of a stranger named Thriller who kissed criminally well, I gave myself up to ecstasy. An ocean of genres surrounded me, and I intended to taste them all. Comedy and Tragedy were old friends travelling on a road parallel to mine, Tragedy waved cheerfully back at me and Comedy glowered menacingly. Mystery was an old man who smiled at me in feeble delight when I came to visit. His daughter was the bewitching Young Adult, dressed in a dispassionate white dress that hugged her curves alluringly. Before I could reach out and touch her, the vision evaporated, leaving me with a bittersweet aftertaste and the promise of more. I was forced to clamber back into the frying pan as the earth beneath my feet lurched threateningly.
I flew back home in the frying pan, smiling with the knowledge that this was one fire I would get to leap into again quite soon.
One day, an asylum silently beckoned me close. When I looked at it inquiringly, it smiled and led me to dew-licked leaves that lovingly carpeted a hidden path. A path that was as charming as if it had been cobbled but as wildly and irresistibly formidable as a serpent snaking it's way to some downy prey. It was called The Path Less Travelled. Like the dress of a temptress revealing one pale freckled shoulder, the road allowed a teasing glimpse of Adventure, shrouded tantalizingly in a blurry outline of mist. Fools are everywhere. Some dare to touch whirling stars. Others dare to walk on the most scandalous road they had ever laid eyes on. They all catch fire eventually.
If only the frying pan hadn't been so boring, one wouldn't be tempted to jump!
Alas, jump I did, tumbling crookedly down into the pages of this wonderful, magical book, giggling madly. From one page to another I hopped, tasting the whirlwind of Romance, running my tongue over the dagger of Philosophy. I had to dance in the lap of a sky the color of wet wildcat fur before I was allowed to fall down the rabbit hole. Landing in the arms of a stranger named Thriller who kissed criminally well, I gave myself up to ecstasy. An ocean of genres surrounded me, and I intended to taste them all. Comedy and Tragedy were old friends travelling on a road parallel to mine, Tragedy waved cheerfully back at me and Comedy glowered menacingly. Mystery was an old man who smiled at me in feeble delight when I came to visit. His daughter was the bewitching Young Adult, dressed in a dispassionate white dress that hugged her curves alluringly. Before I could reach out and touch her, the vision evaporated, leaving me with a bittersweet aftertaste and the promise of more. I was forced to clamber back into the frying pan as the earth beneath my feet lurched threateningly.
I flew back home in the frying pan, smiling with the knowledge that this was one fire I would get to leap into again quite soon.
adventurous
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
According to Goodreads, this book was first published in 2005, so I'm not really sure why it was on Netgalley with a more recent release date, but oh well. While I enjoyed this book quite a bit, it took me so long to read which made it a little less enjoyable. I think it was just written in such a way that made it hard to read quickly. The writing was great, but it didn't necessarily leave me eager to turn the page to see what happens next. Hardinge is an interesting author. I've read The Lie Tree by her, but wasn't very impressed. While it's obvious that a lot of thought goes into her books, I find that I'm mostly left feeling vaguely confused by things.
But getting into the book, the characters were great. I really liked Mosca as a protagonist. The reader roots for her even when she's making bad decisions. Even though she's kind of a prickly character, she's immensely likable as well. Saracen was probably my favorite animal sidekick of all time. He's completely selfish, but everything he does kind of ends up helping anyway. He was just a really funny character in my opinion. The rest of the characters were equally interesting and well-developed. The one thing that I absolutely loved about this book is that it's not clear until almost the very end who is "good" and who is "bad". At multiple points throughout the story anybody could be the bad guy.
The world that Hardinge has created is interesting, but not terribly well-developed. We spend most of the book in Mandelion, but I had not idea if it was the capital of this country or just a random city. It was not clear whether this city had any importance to the rest of the country and that (for some reason) made things a little confusing for me. The author has also created a really complicated political system and religion that doesn't get 100% explained. As both of these things play a large role in the overall plot, I was left confused multiple times trying to reread to see if I had missed an important detail.
Overall, I thought this book was enjoyable and I would recommend it for Middle Grade readers and up. Perhaps I just didn't have enough time to invest to understand the world and different structures within it but I do feel like younger me would have enjoyed it quite a bit. There is a sequel, Fly Trap, but I probably won't be reading it just because this first one was so difficult to get through.
Overall Rating: 4
Language: None
Violence: Moderate
Smoking/Drinking: Mild
Sexual Content: Mild
Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
But getting into the book, the characters were great. I really liked Mosca as a protagonist. The reader roots for her even when she's making bad decisions. Even though she's kind of a prickly character, she's immensely likable as well. Saracen was probably my favorite animal sidekick of all time. He's completely selfish, but everything he does kind of ends up helping anyway. He was just a really funny character in my opinion. The rest of the characters were equally interesting and well-developed. The one thing that I absolutely loved about this book is that it's not clear until almost the very end who is "good" and who is "bad". At multiple points throughout the story anybody could be the bad guy.
The world that Hardinge has created is interesting, but not terribly well-developed. We spend most of the book in Mandelion, but I had not idea if it was the capital of this country or just a random city. It was not clear whether this city had any importance to the rest of the country and that (for some reason) made things a little confusing for me. The author has also created a really complicated political system and religion that doesn't get 100% explained. As both of these things play a large role in the overall plot, I was left confused multiple times trying to reread to see if I had missed an important detail.
Overall, I thought this book was enjoyable and I would recommend it for Middle Grade readers and up. Perhaps I just didn't have enough time to invest to understand the world and different structures within it but I do feel like younger me would have enjoyed it quite a bit. There is a sequel, Fly Trap, but I probably won't be reading it just because this first one was so difficult to get through.
Overall Rating: 4
Language: None
Violence: Moderate
Smoking/Drinking: Mild
Sexual Content: Mild
Note: I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Even though my dream is to have a book store that has absoutley no catagories just everything in alphabetical order. I spenind the bulk of my day catagorising books into different sections and genres. The thing I love about Hardinge is that, children's author because no one knows where else to put her. Hardinge does Hardinge and we just have to keep up. But I love the way she creates her worlds, it's a jumble of lies, rumours, mythology, which is why children are the perfect protaganist for these worlds and how they come to understand them.
I have really grown to love her writing. Especially here. The world of 18th Century London or Mandolin as it is in the book, is a magical place, even though I was half way through the book before I realised that there is no actual magic. Hardinge uses all the conventions of a fairy tale with a walled city and it's guilds and then slowly strips these away as Mosca Moye learns the reality of what is happening around her.
It was such as easy book to sink into, and I absoutetly adored how she recreated London with it's dirty streets, it's coffee houses, the radicalism and it's factions. It was wonderful.
I have really grown to love her writing. Especially here. The world of 18th Century London or Mandolin as it is in the book, is a magical place, even though I was half way through the book before I realised that there is no actual magic. Hardinge uses all the conventions of a fairy tale with a walled city and it's guilds and then slowly strips these away as Mosca Moye learns the reality of what is happening around her.
It was such as easy book to sink into, and I absoutetly adored how she recreated London with it's dirty streets, it's coffee houses, the radicalism and it's factions. It was wonderful.
I love this author, but this is the 5th time I've tried to read this and each time I'm bored to death and zoning out of the story. It's time to give up on this one... just not for me.
I really enjoyed this book. Mosca, the protagonist, is a fantastic little spitfire and her adventures are highly entertaining. I also liked that the plot seemed random and episodic for much of the book, but all came together at the end. The very end laid on the moral a bit too heavily, but Hardinge gets extra points for her deep love of books and this great line, "I don't want a happy ending, I want more story."
funny
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Oh yes, this is good.
A "kid's" book, but a kid's book in the vein of Phillip Pullman, or Garth Nix even (who is quoted on the back of my edition as saying he's quite the fan of Hardinge). Heroine Mosca Mye drinks beer and smokes a pipe, not in some juvenile, Francesca Lia Block teenage rebellion way, but because this book is set very loosely in Ye Aulde 18th-Century England, and a 12-year-old girl probably would have drunk beer at that time. I love books that don't spare kids the realities of life.
The twisty plot doesn't quite manage J.K. Rowling-esque surprises (remember the first time you realized it was Quirrell all along?) but isn't completely predictable, either. Besides, you'll love Hardinge's wry turns of phrase and invented curses no matter what the plot is. ("I want my chirfuggin' goose back!")
Read it. Just read it.
A "kid's" book, but a kid's book in the vein of Phillip Pullman, or Garth Nix even (who is quoted on the back of my edition as saying he's quite the fan of Hardinge). Heroine Mosca Mye drinks beer and smokes a pipe, not in some juvenile, Francesca Lia Block teenage rebellion way, but because this book is set very loosely in Ye Aulde 18th-Century England, and a 12-year-old girl probably would have drunk beer at that time. I love books that don't spare kids the realities of life.
The twisty plot doesn't quite manage J.K. Rowling-esque surprises (remember the first time you realized it was Quirrell all along?) but isn't completely predictable, either. Besides, you'll love Hardinge's wry turns of phrase and invented curses no matter what the plot is. ("I want my chirfuggin' goose back!")
Read it. Just read it.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes