I Suddenly Remembered My Charlemagne

by laura_josephsen. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, LAURA HAS A BOOK!

(Yes, the title was too long for the subject box.)

ANYWAY!

I read this book as a first draft about ten seconds after it was done (lies: it was the next day, but I was VERY HIGH on finishing my first Novel (for NaNo), in a 10K sprint on November 30, so it's a BIT OF A BLUR), and my enduring memory of it is OB-Wan shouting (repeatedly) from the next room "WHAT IS SO FUNNY?"

This book is VERY FUNNY.

This is for two reasons. First, it's kind of a book about writing a book - cliches, recycled plots, things that are extremely predictable - and second, the POV character is wonderfully sarcastic.

We have, at the centre of the story, Persephone, the eldest of six girls, and her creative writing homework assignment: write what you know. Sephie is concerned that "what she knows" is boring, but that doesn't stop her from keeping a journal for a year, following what happens with her family and friends, and finding out that Real Life has its moments, even if they pass you before you realize what they are.

It's a contemporary novel about growing up (or not, as the case may be), about family and heartbreak and heartnotbreak and...books. It is so, so Not My Thing. And I absolutely adore it. Sephie is completely believable, her sisters and parents are amazing, her classmates remind me of home, and her teachers crack me up. I'm so please that this book is now a Thing People Can Own, because I loved reading it in its early stages, and now YOU CAN READ IT TOO (on sale, until Christmas, even!).

I can't give this book a rating. I've been thinking about it all night (all YEAR), and I just can't do it. I loved it SO MUCH though, on both a personal and professional level. And I would recommend it to any teenage girl, anyone who WAS a teenage girl, anyone who likes to write, and anyone who can appreciate the brilliance of the nickname "And-drama-queen" (which still makes me snicker, two years later).

I have a confession. I bought this book in JUNE, started reading it in the coffeeshop right away, and then got distracted by things like DRIVING ACROSS THE COUNTRY and GOING TO JORDAN and THE SCORPIO RACES and NANO and...yeah. Please understand that my insane life is not an indication of the quality of this book.

Somewhat hilariously, where I stopped reading the book for NaNo? Was precisely three pages before the book became ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Let that be a lesson for you: keep turning the pages.

Victorians, spies, girls who are awesome, intrigue, repeated use of the word pianoforte, etc.

( My love for the Victorian Era, let me show it to you... )

So 9/10, for historical accuracy, Dealing With Stuff, corsets and waistcoats, and the parts where it's a VICTORIAN SPY NOVEL.

I am totally not thinking about fanfiction where 10-year-old Helen Magnus meets Mary Lang and decides that she should be a spy too...

You know how sometimes a "middle book" is kind of pointless and filler-ish and doesn't really do anything, and sometimes it's "The Empire Strikes Back"?

( We don't need no Death Star! )

8.5/10, for being a markedly better book than #1, for having scenes that made me laugh, for COSTUME PORN, for having fun immortals and for...MAGNUS BANE. ;)



That said, if any of them turn out to be Jack the Ripper, I am SO DONE. ;)

AND BECAUSE I FORGOT YESTERDAY: SWORDCANES, FTW!

You guys, I CAN'T EVEN.

I don't even know where to START.

10,000/10, and THANK YOU, TAMORA PIERCE, for not pulling punches, for making me laugh, cry, rage, grow, despair, rejoice, and for having SO MUCH BELIEF in what girls can do.

Well...that happened.

( I am someone who does not let inconsequential things like boys and near death experiences stop her. )

So I'm giving it an 8/10 for being interesting, well-developed, mostly brainy and self-rescuing, and for not pulling any punches (even though I kind of wish it had, sort of...)

+++

Lucky Charms, shower, bed. On the bright side, at 5AM I can get The Scorpio Races (even though I can't start reading it until 9:30...and that's assuming we can extract it from the stock room...).

Okay, I read "The Lost Hero" under weird conditions (ie. really fast while doing other fannish things at sache8's house at Christmas), so I didn't really love it. I enjoyed the Kane Chronicles a lot, but they were definitely missing that certain je ne sais quois that the Olympian books have. "The Son of Neptune", on the other hand? SOLID GOLD OF AWESOMENESS.

( Welcome to Alaska. We're beyond the help of the gods. )

9.5/10 for being hilarious, brilliant and excellently paced; for including Canada; and for making fun of the Romans. ;)

(ARGH, my "Zeus is crazy!"; "We don't use the c-word to describe the Lord of the Sky!" icon is gone...)

Alternate history (WW I), steampunk, Girls Are Awesome, Boys Are Awesome Too, semi-real politics, friendship, messed up science, general fabulousness, etc.

( I may be as excited as Emma, though for different reasons. )

9/10, for being a magnificent ending, and for the amazing, amazing world we got to see.

OH, and the illustrations were GORGEOUS.

(This is another ARC review, so I've done my best to keep it spoiler free. I've skated over the BIG things anyway. But a few things probably made it through. Be warned.)

10 Things I Loved About "Every Other Day" (By Page 10 of the Book)

1. Non-white heroine.
2. Creative superpowers.
3. Snappy internal monologue.
4. Hellhounds are an endangered species.
5. She thinks of them as 'hounds (and yes, the apostrophe is why I love it).
6. Bizarre pragmatism.
7. "Left with nothing but my own bloody fingertips, I let out a war cry of my own, raked my nails over its face and fought like a girl." (I think I love her...)
8. Hilarious descriptions of her superpowers by herself.
9. She's the bait and the rescuer all at the same time.
10. The really cool slow build of the "people like me" theme.

And that was only Chapter One!

( Yeah, it's crazy. But sometimes, crazy is all you've got. )

So this book gets a 9/10 for a fabulous "insert" world, an awesome heroine, an outstanding supporting cast (SKYLER!!!), a great ending, and for keeping the romance to a minimum. :)

(I can't tell you why it doesn't get a 10, because that would be a spoiler.)

(Oh, and the cover art is REALLY GREAT.)

+++

Every Other Day comes out on December 27, which seems like an odd day for a book, but WHATEVER. I will definitely be adding it to my list of "books I want to hold someday".

Seriously, who sits down one day and thinks "I should re-write Hansel and Gretel"? AWESOMESAUCE.

girl power, fairy tale retelling, Buffy wishes she was this cool, again with the present tense, sisters are forever, much more amazing than Supernatural ever was on its best day, werewolves that don't suck, etc.

(Spoilers below!)

( And, as always, never take candies from strangers. )

My only real recommendation for reading this book is to not start it in the middle of a thunderstorm after a tornado warning has been issued, because it will stop you from going out to buy the candy the book will make you crave. ;)

9/10 for girls who are awesome, girls who are less awesome, siblings who love each other, small towns, and gorgeous, gorgeous imagery.

There are two books called "Starcrossed" out in the last twelve months. This is the one that's not about Helen of Troy. ;)

Instead, "Starcrossed" is about a thief-girl with a complicated past who ends up over her head in an intrigue to overthrow the magic-quashing, religiously intolerant government.

( Spoilers )

So 8/10 for a great cast, creative magic, well constructed story lines, and politics.