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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
Tämä kirja on pyörinyt jo pidemmän aikaa lukupinossani ja olinkin aloittanut sen lukemisen jo aikaisemmin, mutta jotenkin se vain jäi silloin kesken. En varsinaisesti tiedä miksi, mutta jokin ei vain silloin osunut kohdalleen ja kirja palasi lukupinoon odottamaan uutta aikaa.
Onneksi se aika oli nyt.
Lukeminen oli toisaalta hidasta. Osittain siksi, että jouduin sulattelemaan lukemaani. Kirjassa nimittäin tapahtui paljon ja perässä pysyminen vaati hieman tekemistä. Mutta se kannatti. Varsinkin loppua kohden olin koukussa.
Kirja sinänsä sijoittuu 1700-luvun alun Englantiin, mutta siinä on otettu paljon vapauksia. Ja hyvästä syystä. Vaikka tarina kertoo Musca Myen elämästä ja selviytymisestä, on tämä myös tarina sananvapaudesta, kirjallisuudesta, kirjoista, sanoista ja siitä, miksi kunkin mielipide on tärkeä, vaikka se mielipide ei olisi oikea. Ainakaan toisen mielestä.
Lopuksi on pakko sanoa, että tässä kirjassa nousi vahvasti suosikiksi hanhi Saraseeni, jota vain Musca rakasti ja arvosti kun taas muut pelkäsivät ja syystä
Onneksi se aika oli nyt.
Lukeminen oli toisaalta hidasta. Osittain siksi, että jouduin sulattelemaan lukemaani. Kirjassa nimittäin tapahtui paljon ja perässä pysyminen vaati hieman tekemistä. Mutta se kannatti. Varsinkin loppua kohden olin koukussa.
Kirja sinänsä sijoittuu 1700-luvun alun Englantiin, mutta siinä on otettu paljon vapauksia. Ja hyvästä syystä. Vaikka tarina kertoo Musca Myen elämästä ja selviytymisestä, on tämä myös tarina sananvapaudesta, kirjallisuudesta, kirjoista, sanoista ja siitä, miksi kunkin mielipide on tärkeä, vaikka se mielipide ei olisi oikea. Ainakaan toisen mielestä.
Lopuksi on pakko sanoa, että tässä kirjassa nousi vahvasti suosikiksi hanhi Saraseeni, jota vain Musca rakasti ja arvosti kun taas muut pelkäsivät ja syystä
“since the burning of her father’s books, mosca had been starved of words. she had subsisted on workaday terms, snub and flavorless as potatoes. clent had brought phrases as vivid and strange as spices, and he smiled as he spoke, as if tasting them.” this quote early in the book is a quick representation of the relationship between mosca mye and eponymous clent, two of the main characters in this delightful tale. it is set in a vaguely classical era (men wear powdered wigs) of a non-existent world where words equal power and not many have the privilege of printed words. i was worried that the book would end up being dry and hard to push my way through, but the author has a delightful way with words and nary a cliche is to be found in this story. So many poetic descriptions and turns of phrase and yet they all seem to add and not distract. there are twists and turns in the plot, floating coffeehouses, and a violently loyal goose. words hold ultimate power in this book, turning a dreadful highwayman into a candidate for dukedom and causing people to scatter away from print like leaves in the wind. it’s hard to give it justice in this review–just read the book!
adventurous
dark
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Torture, Death of parent
I have loved every previous book by Frances Hardinge that I have read. This one I liked. I understand it is her first published work and that helps me to forgive a very complicated and hard to unravel text. Even at the end, I was not quite sure who was motivated by what to ally with who against which faction, to achieve what end, through unfathomable truths and impenetrable lies!! It does contain some beautiful, startling, highlightable writing with many highly original and lyrical similes, and the world-building is first class and sustained throughout.
Mosca was a plucky hero, and a great foreshadowing of even more wonderfully written protagonists in later books. I am glad this was not the first of Hardinge’s books that I read, but I am happy to have read it when I did and look forward to more by her.
Mosca was a plucky hero, and a great foreshadowing of even more wonderfully written protagonists in later books. I am glad this was not the first of Hardinge’s books that I read, but I am happy to have read it when I did and look forward to more by her.
ARC provided by Netgalley.com
An excellent juvenile fantasy book full of humor and adventure!
An excellent juvenile fantasy book full of humor and adventure!
Mosca Mye, 12 years old and named for the common housefly, has escaped the dreary confines of Chough with Eponymous Clent, a swindler, and Saracen, a goose. What could possibly go wrong?
This book was written by someone who loves books and words, for all of us who do likewise. It's utterly enchanting, with a sly sense of humour and delightful characterisation. I just love it. I read it when it first came out, and reviewed it for the Victorian Association for the Teaching of English. I believe I had grand plans of donating the book to school; I think I convinced them to buy their own copy instead. I have re-read it this past weekend because I discovered that Hardinge wrote a sequel, and I finally got my hands on it... and it reminded me of how passionately I loved it the first time. Surely, I thought, the Suck Fairy can't have visited in six years? Happily, she hasn't.
Mosca lives in a world that borrows liberally from the Britain of the early eighteenth century but also, as Hardinge herself warns, takes great liberties with anything resembling historicity. It's a world of coffeehouses that float on the river; beautiful ladies in awesome gowns who go to watch beast matches; men with monocles and gloves and dastardly plans; and one girl who can read, is desperate for words and stories, and has a rather large dollop of bloody-minded determination in her head. Who else would kidnap a goose when she runs away? And who else could persuade the goose to hang around? The world's resemblances to historical Britain also include a recent-ish Civil War, but here the result has been a Fractured Realm: no monarch has been properly proclaimed, and Parliament is dithering in its effort to confirm one (and has done so for decades). Religion, too, has been fractured, and it's based loosely on the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation (I've just realised; sometimes I am seriously dim).
So Mosca runs away from the sodden Chough, after rescuing Eponymous Clent (I never get bored by that name); they have various adventures, and end up in Mandelion, where yet more adventures await them. There are traitors, and mysterious benefactors, and villains-who-aren't, and a just-manageable cast who remain entertaining and enthralling for the entire story; I certainly never got bored by any of them. Mosca demonstrates hidden strengths, as befits a plucky heroine, who at times descends to genuinely murky depths. Hardinge plays very interesting games with Clent, leaving the reader guessing for quite a long time as to whether he is a blood-sodden genius or a silver-tongued skin-of-the-teeth and seat-of-the-pants petty crim. Even Saracen the goose has some wonderful moments.
The narrative is entertaining, the characters are endearing, and the world is enthralling. Over all and in all and making it all wonderful, though, is the prose. Hardinge has a wonderful turn of phrase, full of alliteration and poetic language. It never falls into the flowery trap, mostly because it's often in Mosca's mouth, which means it tends towards acerbic instead.
Example 1:
The roof of the dovecote stealthily rose, and two sets of eyes peered out through the gap. One pair of eyes were coal beads, set between a bulging bully brow and a beak the colour of pumpkin peel. The other pair were human, and as hot and black as pepper.
Example 2:
Clent: Where is your sense of patriotism?
Mosca: I keep it hid away safe, along with my sense of trust, Mr Clent. I don't use 'em much in case they get scratched.
Hugely recommended.
This book was written by someone who loves books and words, for all of us who do likewise. It's utterly enchanting, with a sly sense of humour and delightful characterisation. I just love it. I read it when it first came out, and reviewed it for the Victorian Association for the Teaching of English. I believe I had grand plans of donating the book to school; I think I convinced them to buy their own copy instead. I have re-read it this past weekend because I discovered that Hardinge wrote a sequel, and I finally got my hands on it... and it reminded me of how passionately I loved it the first time. Surely, I thought, the Suck Fairy can't have visited in six years? Happily, she hasn't.
Mosca lives in a world that borrows liberally from the Britain of the early eighteenth century but also, as Hardinge herself warns, takes great liberties with anything resembling historicity. It's a world of coffeehouses that float on the river; beautiful ladies in awesome gowns who go to watch beast matches; men with monocles and gloves and dastardly plans; and one girl who can read, is desperate for words and stories, and has a rather large dollop of bloody-minded determination in her head. Who else would kidnap a goose when she runs away? And who else could persuade the goose to hang around? The world's resemblances to historical Britain also include a recent-ish Civil War, but here the result has been a Fractured Realm: no monarch has been properly proclaimed, and Parliament is dithering in its effort to confirm one (and has done so for decades). Religion, too, has been fractured, and it's based loosely on the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation (I've just realised; sometimes I am seriously dim).
So Mosca runs away from the sodden Chough, after rescuing Eponymous Clent (I never get bored by that name); they have various adventures, and end up in Mandelion, where yet more adventures await them. There are traitors, and mysterious benefactors, and villains-who-aren't, and a just-manageable cast who remain entertaining and enthralling for the entire story; I certainly never got bored by any of them. Mosca demonstrates hidden strengths, as befits a plucky heroine, who at times descends to genuinely murky depths. Hardinge plays very interesting games with Clent, leaving the reader guessing for quite a long time as to whether he is a blood-sodden genius or a silver-tongued skin-of-the-teeth and seat-of-the-pants petty crim. Even Saracen the goose has some wonderful moments.
The narrative is entertaining, the characters are endearing, and the world is enthralling. Over all and in all and making it all wonderful, though, is the prose. Hardinge has a wonderful turn of phrase, full of alliteration and poetic language. It never falls into the flowery trap, mostly because it's often in Mosca's mouth, which means it tends towards acerbic instead.
Example 1:
The roof of the dovecote stealthily rose, and two sets of eyes peered out through the gap. One pair of eyes were coal beads, set between a bulging bully brow and a beak the colour of pumpkin peel. The other pair were human, and as hot and black as pepper.
Example 2:
Clent: Where is your sense of patriotism?
Mosca: I keep it hid away safe, along with my sense of trust, Mr Clent. I don't use 'em much in case they get scratched.
Hugely recommended.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Overall impression:
Fly By Night is a wholly original story chock-full of witty dialogue, unique characters, and a clever plot.
Read the full review on Book Revels.
Fly By Night is a wholly original story chock-full of witty dialogue, unique characters, and a clever plot.
Read the full review on Book Revels.
This book took me an inordinately long time to finish, which is really no fault of the books—it’s a well-written alternate history/fantasy, with not the slightest element of the fantastic except for the fact that it is set in something that resembles post-English-Civil-War England, if England had been polytheistic and had, not a restoration, but a collection of quarreling contenders for the throne. It is a peculiarly amoral book—our heroine is unpleasant (though not as much so as her excellent goose, Saracen)—and it is not merely that it isn’t clear who are the good guys and who the bad guys, but that there really are no good guys, only shades of bad. It suffers from a certain un-clarity of audience, being pitched at the very lowest end of YA, or even J, while teasing at philosophical concepts (and sometimes vocabulary) that would challenge a mature teen.