Undead

Though it is a commonly knowledge fact that Johnathan Maberry's "Rot and Ruin" series are the best YA zombie books out there, "Undead" by Kirsty McKay begs to differ.
     Life could not get worse for Bobby.  Not only was she forced to attend a class skiing trip with a class that hates her, a twist of fate leaves her sequestered in the school bus with the class bad boy, Smitty.  So, cue the teenage hormones and romance or the blood, guts, gore, maggots, carrot men, explosions, and . . . zombies? Joined by the pasty-faced albino nerd (Pete) and the head cheerleader (Alice aka Malice), the teenagers face down horrors such as surveillance cameras, vegetable juice, shrink-wrapped sandwiches, and the undead armed with ski equipment and their own ingenuity.  The only thing that would have been worse was if they'd gotten off the bus in the first place . .
.

I say that this is better than "Rot and Ruin" any day. No, I never did a review of "Rot and Ruin" though, yes, it is generally considered the best zombie book out there--every other zombie book gets compared to it. And, yes, Tom Imura might possibly be the most sympathetic zombie-hunter out there, but halfway through "Dust and Decay," the second book, I fell asleep. So, obviously, Tom Imura, his bratty little brother, that--girl-who-wants-revenge-but-was-basically-brought-along-for-kicks, the-kid-who-didn't-want-to-be-there-and-kept-getting-into-trouble, and the girl who was mysterious-and-oh-so-hot couldn't hold my interest for all that long.  (Oh, and I might have given away the whole plot line for the first two books.  Sorry.)
     Smitty, on the other hand, is very interesting. Possibly that could be because he is insane, unlike the Imuras who are reasonable and posses the power of forethought 50% of the time.  I highly doubt that Tom Imura would chop a zombie's head off with a snowboard.
      Anyway, and now I'll stop with the "Rot and Ruin" references, this book is my sort of book.  Plenty of guts and gore without the prominent and exaggerated battle scene towards the end, because the battle is all through out the book.  Also, there is plenty of inanity.  The whole plot is insane.  The characters are insane. The whole thing's fantastic.
      I did know what was causing people to rise again before the characters did, but that didn't ruin the plot too much.  I also figured out who was behind the whole thing, because it was a bit typical, but it didn't ruin any of the fun.  The last paragraph, though, has a twist that annoys me so much . . . My teeth clench up just thinking about it. Why do people do such things to me!?!
      My favorite character is Bobby.  At first, you get the sense that she's a reasonable heroine, the type you usually get. Yes, she is a reasonable heroine, I do agree with that, but her reasonable isn't what most people would consider reasonable. The things that seem practical to her wouldn't necessarily seem practical to me, or most normal people, in the same situation. She isn't like a lot of modern-day heroines, though, becoming despondent when something isn't working out her way (Miss Everdeen?  No, we weren't just talking about you, were we?). There is almost no one else I would rather be stuck in a truck stop with during the zombie apocalypse.
      Her supporting cast is also amazing.  Smitty, as I've already mentioned. A bad-boy to rival Ronan Lynch, (though Ronan would come out on top because Ronan's amazing).  Pete is an amazing nerd.  I classify myself among their number, and I feel that though he does not represent the majority he is definitely amazing, and that is the only word I have. What dude could not notice that they have a piece of metal shelving sticking out of his head?  His madness knows no bounds of genius.  And, of course, Alice, nicknamed Malice by Smitty.  A cheerleader with an attitude.  She's not your stereotypical ditz, but she does think she is better than the other characters.  Since they out number her 3:1, though, that does get interesting quickly.
      "Undead" came out in the United States this spring, I think.  I picked it up over the summer and read it twice within the space of a month and half, which says something to the quality because usually I have to wait six months before I can re-read something.  "Unfed," the sequal, just came out on this side of the pond, and I wanted to order it from England earlier, but my mother was taking too long so I'll probably just go over to Barnes and Noble this weekend and get it because seriously, I cannot live with not knowing what happens next any longer.  I'll pull all of my hair out of my head if I'm am forced into waiting.
       So, anyways, it's a comedy and a disaster and a train wreck that you can't stop watching.  Turn around.  Run away. Save yourself.  And beware carrots bearing gifts.

Rotters

What does it mean to be dead?  "Rotters" by Daniel Kraus has the answer.

Secrets are best left buried next to the skeletons in the closet, but it's hard to keep them down there when the source of your livelihood is buried six feet under, locked in a wooden box, and nestled between the pale white ribs of the ones best left in the closet.  The order of the grave robbers is an old and ancient one that's gasping its final breaths when two unexpected things happen:  Joey's mother dies, and a colleague commits the worse sort of heresy possible.  There's beauty in death, if you're around it long enough, as pale and as cold as it is.  The trouble is, if you accept death as your love, you're halfway there yourself.  Joey's drowning in a sea of bones, rats, and lies that are older than he is because nothing will ever be as it seems when you're the Resurrectionist's son.

This is not a book about zombies.  This is not a book about romance. Well, there is love, but it's not romance, really. This is not a book about happiness.  In fact, Daniel Kraus makes Lemony Snicket look like a Care Bear. This is not a book that has any definable parameters.  This is not a book that one raves and gushes about, because in a way, it's too sacred for that.
       This book does not have any definable parameters because it is so many things.  At first, it seems like a realistic fiction book, in which a boy's mother dies and then he has to go live with his horrible father and go to a horrible school where everyone picks on him, including the teachers. For a while there, you think that he's going to do alright, get the girl of his dreams, rise up from his underdog status, and show those bullies their proper places, etc. like in a lot of other books.  Then, you realize that you still have 3/4's of the book to go, you haven't even figured out why the name of the book is 'Rotters,' and that there's a picture of a shovel sticking out of the dirt next to a tombstone on the cover.
       After you get out of the part where it's all a nightmarish high-school fantasy, it gets pretty twisted.  Excuse me, really twisted.  But, that is the most fantastic part about it. In the beginning it's pretty tame.  They rob graves, big whoop.  It's pretty interesting how Joey's interactions at school are directly influenced by his 'graveyard shift' (excuse me, I had to).  He is one of the most dynamic characters I've seen, and even as he steps away from being what fundamentally made him Joey in the beginning of the book and he stops being recognizably Joey, he is still Joey.  It's rare to find a character that changes so absolutely, completely, and believably over the course of one book.
      The high school drama also serves to anchor the book.  In the end of the book, when there is no more high school stuff and everything gets dramatically more weird, the book gets almost dreamy, because there's nothing there that you can really connect with.  Yet, it's better for that.  The book becomes more because true understanding of the real situation lies on the peripheral of your understanding.  It doesn't make any sense now, while you're reading this, but it makes a lot of sense while you're reading the book.  Which, I hope you do, because it's a fantastic book.
     The whole thing with the dudes chasing after the dad because he robbed the grave after he saw the rat king is a bit absurd, though.  If I saw an evil omen, I would've gone back to my house and sat there for a while and thought some before I jumped the gun and did.  It seemed completely out of everything we knew about the Resurrectionist's character.
      Speaking of character, the characters are very.  As you know by now, I like a decently sized cast of personable characters.  This book has two main characters--Joey, and his dad, though, I would suppose you'd be amiss if you didn't count Baby as a main character, so say you have three main characters--and really, only a few of them converse at a time.  Half of the characters in the book are repulsive, and the other half are reclusive.  They are personable,if personable means they have their quirks, but they are a very odd sort of personable.  None of them are loud or overly sarcastic, which is more my style, but most are quietly cynical. And then there are, of course, the few people who devote themselves to a cause with a whole-hearted passion, which I don't really understand, but I almost can, per the style of the writing.  The only person you really connect to is Joey, and the only one you really, really like is Ike or Joey's father's mentor.  Yeah.  But everyone's personality is fantastic, even if you hate them.  Each are their own person, and you forget that they are merely characters in a book.
       The world they live in is vivid, if not bright.  A good book will keep you anchored by not moving to new places every other page.  Many places in this book are revisited and reused, so it feels like you've actually been somewhere, not skimmed by it. That doesn't make any sense either. Excuse me.
      In this day and age, people are easily offended, so I'm going to tell you that there is a bit of a religious undertone.  He doesn't go to church, but there's a dude that comes around frequently telling him that his soul needs to be saved.  And then there the two-fingered Jesus.  I mean, I don't know what people's boundaries are, and I am an open-minded person who doesn't really get people's boundaries, so I thought I would just put that out there.
      And so, now to the ending.  All I'm going to say is that it is a pretty open-ended ending, one that's fantastic and creepy and mysterious and brings up more questions than it does answers.  It's the sort of ending that leads to a sequel, in most cases, but if anyone makes a sequel to this I will personally bring them to their grave because perfection should not be messed with, and, anyways, what could be a better resolution than that?  So, for once, I am pretty pleased with an ending. That must be some sort of momentous event, no?
        The question that this book is supposed to answer, as I posed up in the beginning--'what does it mean to be dead'--is never answered outright, but you're given enough information to form your own answer.  For me, I think that the moment you die is the moment you stop worrying about whether you're truly alive.

http://danielkraus.com/rotters.php  Watch the video by Vorvolakas (that's a band that plays a significant part in the book).  It's pretty creepy, once you get into.  And, I think they're chanting 'pain will not escape you,' or something of that kin, but I'm too sure.  His other books look pretty cool, too.

Insignia

"Insignia," by S.J. Kincaid is "Ender's Game" with a twist.
       Thomas Raines has spent most of his life traveling from casino to casino, waiting for his dad to finally make a big win.  Tom has always been taught to distrust the government, so when a US general shows up and tells Tom that he would be perfect for controlling one of the unmanned drones that does the army's dirty work, fighting for mines and other territories on distant planets during World War III, Tom is apprehensive.  This is a chance for greatness, though, the chance to join the few elite of the Camelot Company--a military group of children who control the robots in Outer Space--and to finally become someone important. Tom's all in until they tell him that he has to get a neural implant, a machine in his brain that would make him just like the people is father always looked down on.  Thomas Raines must get his mind in order in order to make his own big win, because when gambling with your life everything that makes you you is put into question.


I know that it is unfair to compare anything to "Ender's Game" because Orson Scott Card is a genius writer, but this book can hold it's own.  I mean, the premise is basically "Ender's Game" (boy gets taken for military training and plays games instead of learns lessons), but there are a few crucial differences that make the story its own. First, they are not fighting against aliens, they are fighting against other countries, albeit elsewhere in the Solar System.  Second, all of the kids have computers in their brains.
       The main character, Thomas Raines, is a cross between Eli Monpress and Peter Wiggen, which is fantastic, but I'll get to that in a couple of sentances.  The setting, the Pentagon Spire where the cadet kids learn their lessons is a mix of Ender's Battle School and Hogwarts.  These crazy combinations are the perfect mix to create something unique and wild, and the author takes full advantage of that.
        For starters, Thomas Raines is a unique main character.  He has all of the mainuplative slyness of Peter Wiggen, with three-fourths of the ego and all of the creativity Eli Monpress (of "The Legend of Eli Monpress," a series I've yet to review here).  He's a lonely kid who has issues with authority and doing what he's told without questioning.  He is also one of the most interesting characters I've ever read about.  Most characters, one their character and behavioral patterns are established, are relatively easy to predict.  You know what their path of action is going to be before they take it which, when done right, is the sign of good writing.  T'his book, though, can still surprise you.  It's not written in first-person, so you don't know what Tom knows the moment Tom knows it.  You have to wait and watch the character traits develop, which takes a while.  I'm not saying it's bad, it's just not often that you don't know everything about the main character immediately.  When you do know his behavior patterns, it's difficult to predict what he's going to do next, not because of a bad writing style, more because Tom has such a complex personality.  Really, it's refreshing.
         Tom's friends are also amusing too.  Vik, his roommate, is very funny (I think of him as the Doctor of Doom who has a tummy ace  :P), as is Wyatt 'Manhands' Enslowe, Beamer, and Yuri.  Each of them have their own personalities, and while they might be stereotypical on occasions (Vik has a 'mirror character' in "Ender's Game," except the guy in "Ender's Game" was much more serious) they do provide a nice balance to Tom's suicidal recklessness. The characters who are not Tom's 'friends' are also colorful as well as his enemies.  They make sure that the book doesn't get too silly while having a good time.  Well, a good a time as you can have when pretty much everything you have is at stake.
        Pretty much everything happens at the Pentagon Spire.  The division names--and this is where the Hogwarts part of things comes in--are all named after famous commanders.  I forget which division Vik and Tom are him, but Wyatt's in Hannibal.  There is also a Napoleon division, for example.  One of my favorite parts of the book is when the computer coding instructor, Blackburn, sets division against division in a computer code war.  You see, it's funny because with the neural implants in their brains, the 'student-cadets' can be controlled with computer code.  I just get this picture in my head of hoards of dignified military students acting like sheep and eating the shrubbery . . . Anyway, the place is fantastically (and suitably  wacky.  Just the place that I would like to go to school in.
         Of course, just as all school in all fiction books, there are issues with the school.  Or, more importantly, issues with the faculty.  Everyone has their own private agenda in Tom's world, so even among all of the physiological manipulation a tussle is bound to happen eventually.  Most of the book, though, involves mind games and how physical combat incite deep strategical thoughts.
        The plot of the book is very good.  With Tom's relatively unpredictable though-pattern, paired with the cast of both goodies and baddies and the situation that they are all involved in, things are rocky.  Also, the book doesn't focus on one overall problem.  Most mainstream books today follow one or  two conflicts -- 1) the main character saving the world, and 2) the main character's love life and maybe 3) the main character's relationship with various other characters.  Very annoying.  The conflicts in this book is more like 1) to work with or against the system, 2) who to trust and which secrets to keep, 3) the issue with Dominion Agra, 4) the issue with Medusa and the rest of the rival people who have implants in their brain, and 5) the issue that involves issues 2,3, and 4 but is still very much its own issue.  Really, it's very interesting and complex and much better than a lot of stuff that passes for Young Adult material.  It does make for a very thick volume but, hey, all the more room to showcase the many fantastic characters of the Pentagon Spire.
         This is the first book in what is going to be a trilogy.  The second book, "Vortex" comes out on July 2cnd.  That day, you will find me anxiously waiting at Barnes & Noble, because the twenty dollars that I will spend on that book will be a sure bet.

www.sjkincaid.com  The Q&A with the author on the 'home' page is very funny--she has quite a sense of humor--and the 'extras' tab under 'Insignia' (under 'The "Insignia" Series') has a playlist of songs that match up with the book.

"Beautiful Creatures" Novels

The "Beautiful Creatures" quartet by Kami Garcia and Margret Stohlr can be beautifully intricate . . . or beautifully confusing.
    Beautiful Creatures:  Ethan Wate has wanted to escape Gatlin since he could remember.  To be free, not to be cooped up with in the predictable parameters of small-town Southern life.  Before he gets a chance to make good on his dreams, a girl in a hearse pulls up in the school parking lot, and his life changes forever.  Soon, Ethan has stopped asking how he can get out of Gatlin, but how he can get in to the secrets that the old town holds.
    Beautiful Darkness:  Lena Duchannes blew Gatlin away, almost quiet literally, on her sixteenth birthday.  She put off the decision of her lifetime--Should she become Dark or Light?--  for another year, but the guilt at causing her uncle's death has ravaged her mind.  Already she's pulling away from Ethan and showing Dark tendencies, such as running away with a strange Caster boy.  Concerned and worried Ethan hits the charts with a new friend and finds that the extent to which Lena's mother will go to make Lena Dark is beyond imagination--even in a world where anything is possible.
    Beautiful Chaos: With Lena finally Claimed, life in Gatlin should finally be going back to sweet, sweet normalcy.  But plagues of grasshoppers, drought, and scorching heat are ravaging the land, even though it's the middle of December.  The high-society ladies of Gatlin have decided that it must be the End of Days, but the Casters know better.  Lean broke the Order when she was claimed, and now Mortal and Caster worlds alike must suffer.  Ethan is the only one who has all of the pieces of the puzzle in his hand, and when he puts them together he arrives at a sickening conclusion:  For the world to survive, one of them must die.
    Beautiful Redemption:  The sacrifice has been made, but down in Gatlin no one is willing to let matters be with one of their own buried in the ground.  They must bend Heaven and Earth, putting themselves at risk for death themselves at the hands of their old enemy.  The peril on the other side of the veil is great as well as Ethan risks it all to return to the place he once fought to escape.

My two favorite books in this series are "Beautiful Creatures" and "Beautiful Chaos."  "Beautiful Redemption is pretty decent, while my reaction to "Beautiful Darkness" was 'Wha . . .?  That was random."  But, more on that later.
     Yeah, I know that this is a romance story, okay?  Deal with it.  They also fight evil-demon thingies and evil relatives.  And such.  So, yeah.  And Lena is strange and writes long skirts and funky necklaces and writes depressing poetry, so that makes everything okay.  Anyway . . .
    It's very interesting that these books are written from the perspective of a male. They're obviously aimed towards girls (though, I know a guy who likes them), but they're written by two women. I say kudos to them for being able to pull it off.  No offense to you, males, if you're reading this, but it is very hard to write from your perspectives, I not being one of you. And, most books aimed at girls have girl main characters.  Easier to relate to and all that.  Ethan, though, is very easy to relate too.  Which propels the book to its status.  If you couldn't relate to Ethan, at least, then the second book is too difficult to even attempt to pursue. 
      That leads me to my special rant, written out specifically for you on "Beautiful Darkness."  Wow.  Okay, when you write/read fantasy, you generally come to accept that each fantasy world you enter comes with a certain set of rules.  In "Eragon" by Christopher Paloni, it is accepted that using magic saps some of your energy.  In one book, Eragon gets exhausted from causing rocks to hail down on someone. If, in the next book, he was able to lift an entire mountain using magic without any extra reserves of magic, then everyone would be outraged because he just violated the rules of the world Christopher Paloni created for him.  Does that make any sense?  In the book, the characters operate by the rules which are set down, much like we must operate by the rules of physics and all that.  Because flying isn't possible.  You would look twice at someone who started flying right in the middle of the street, right?  Because that violates the 'rules' of this world.  So, why in the name of all that is did Kathy Garcia and Margret Stohl make Sarafine pull the ---- out of ----!?  That made no sense!  They never said that they couldn't do it, yeah, but they never explained why she could!  Very random.  I was very outraged.  And what was the deal with that place that ---- ----- took Lena?  It was hardly mentioned in the rest of the books.  It was just this random place that they needed to make their story work.  But a story only works if it works within the parameters that's already set out for it.
        Anyway.  Sorry, I've been planning that rant for some time.
        One of the best things about these books are the characters.  We've already established that Ethan is pretty darn awesome. So is Lena.  There are a bunch others, though, that all deserve and honorable mention;  Link, Liv, Ridley, John, Amma, Macon, the Sisters.  They are all fantastically quirky.  Hardly any cookie-cutter in them at all, which is fantastic and keep the whole thing very interesting to read.  I think that you start reading these books for the cool titles they have (Oh, come on, admit it."Beautiful Creatures" is one cool title.) and keep reading for the characters.  They're the sort that stay with you long after the last cover of the last book has been shut.
       One thing that I don't get, though; a bunch of people have names that begin with 'L' and are four or less letters long.  That makes it pretty hard when you speed read.  All during "Beautiful Darkness" I kept tripping up.  "Wait, isn't Lena supposed to be--Oh, wait, that word was Liv."  Yeah.  That might just be an issue for me, but, you know . . .
       Even though some of the books don't follow all of the 'rules' and though they are very mushy and romantic, for each of their bad qualities they have details and twists that redeem them.  And, believe me, the result is very beautiful.

Even though these are popular books, I can't find an official site on it.  But, as half the world knows, there is a movie out (heh heh heh), so here's the link to the IMDb trailer of that.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1559547/   I would advise you to watch the featurette (is that what it's called?) of Ridley meeting Ethan and Link because it is very amusing.  Also, I want it for the record that no one in the movie looks like they do in the book, and in the book they look better.  And that the dude who plays Ethan is not extraordinarily good looking.  Just saying.

Wild Things

Wild Things, by Clay Carmichael, is a story about the human heart and finding a home and a family after a life of hardship and uncertainty.
      Zoe Royster's mother has just died, and she's been sent to live with her half-uncle, a recluse who hasn't integrated with society after his wife's death.  One of the US's top metal-working artists, he spends all day in his workshop, and Zoe fears that he will want to get rid of her too, just like all of her mother's boyfriends have over the years. 
      But with the help of a kindly old husband and wife, a preacher whose view of what he preaches is not as strong as one would think it would be, two arists from New York City, a lady who has blood connections to Zoe, and a cat who hasn't shown the tip of his nose since the tragedy happened so long ago, can Zoe save a wild boy and his snow-white deer from the lying mayor and his sons?  And what will come of the family that Zoe wants so deperately she won't even admit it to herself?

This book was good.  I picked it up thinking it was something by Patrick Carmen, because I was just looking at the first three letters of the author's last name, so I got a bit of a suprise when I got it home and looked in the front flap and read the description.  It is a moving story, though, about courage and what it takes to stand up for what you love.  I might've cried. 
        Zoe is a girl who is used to taking care of herself, and she tries to tell herself that she will always be able to take care of herself.  Deprived of a childhood, her two loves are books and animals.  The communtiy of people she meets has about the same affect on her as she has on them.  And I believe that would constitute a lot of affecting going around on both sides.  But there are still somethings haunting her about her past, two people in particular--her unknown father and her mother's last boyfriend. 
        Uncle Henry is harder to figure out.  We don't know anything about his childhood, why he even wants Zoe with him, and until about the end of the book we don't even know how he knew she existed. I pretty much liked him after the scene at the grocery store, though it took a while for Zoe to warm up to him. 
         The wild boy she meets in the woods and his snow-white deer, and I won't say more, are my favorite characters.  Personally, I would love to run wild and lawless through the woods for 17 years.  They have had their own share of troubles, ones we learn as we observe the world through the cat's eyes, but we know very little else about them. 
        One thing I didn't like about this book was that it ended to soon.  Or, that it ended at all.  I want to know more of the story, more of what happened.  I suppose you could sort of say it was a cliff-hanger, but it isn't at a point of dramatic tensions.  It's one of those instances, where everything has just fallen into place, but then someone picks up a piece and hides it, leaving the story unfinished.  the book can be very disappointing like that, but very much like real life in the same way:  bittersweet and unfufilling.

Candor

Candor, by Pam Bachorz, is another great book with another great message:  When adults rule the world, they do it badly.  :)
      Oscar Campbell is the perfect student, son, friend, boyfriend, and criminal. He has a 115% average in biology, he makes his father toast every morning, he hangs with all the nerds so they won't feel left out, he eats carrot sticks in the movie theater with his girlfriend, the second-best student in the school . . . and he's busy undermining his father's Utopian society.  He'll sneak you out from the town of Candor for a "small" fee.  Candor, the town his father created after Oscar's brother died.  Candor, the town where everyone is brainwashed to do as they're told.  Candor, where every thing's perfect.  At least, it's supposed to be.  Oscar's the one anomaly, the one person in the town of Candor who knows how to block out the brainwashing messages.  But will he be able to help bad girl, new girl, Nia, overcome the evil charm of Candor, or will he choose to help himself instead?

Yet another book that I love.  What is there not to love about a book that suggests that kids do it better than grown-ups?  But it's fun watching how Oscar knows more than everyone else does.  It's fun watching him try to impress Nia, even while fighting his good-boy urges.  It's sad looking back into Oscar's memories, and it's heartbreaking how everything all falls into place . . .
      I won't give away the ending, but I'll let you know I have a love-hate relationship with it.  I love the characters though, especially Oscar.  He's exactly what you think he is, and you have to respect that.  Nia, on the other hand, is fun-loving and impulsive.  Not the best combination when you're trying to stay under the radar in a town where parents go to get their wild kids under control.  Sherman is a dirty pig who's trying, to the best of his abilities, to do what's best for him, and it ruins the lives of several people who you think shouldn't have their lives ruined--namely, the protagonists.  Mandi is just a brainwashed freak.  She sort of scares me, actually.  Oscar's dad, though.  Ooh, if I met that man in real life I would hurt him very badly.  He's worse than every villain you've ever met in real life or books, if only because he has no mercy.  I mean, sure, some villains in some may kill without a second look, but Oscar's dad is human first, or, at least slightly human, and then he condemns himself irreversibly in three pages.  It's sickening.  But at the same time, very enjoyable.  Humans impulses in a fictional setting is one of the best types of story, in my opinion, because it shows that humans all over the place, no matter where or when, are never perfect.  In my life, that is a very comforting principle to have.
       But yes, Candor is a book in which nothing is as it seems.  It may come off as perfect, but it leaves a slightly bitter aftertaste.  And the first taste is all the sweeter for that.

The "Beatrice Shakespeare Smith" Triology

Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev is the first book in a triology I just finished reading, and it's a must read. 
Beatrice Shakespeare Smith lives in the Theatre Illuminata, a theater where all the plays in the world are routinely preformed, and the characters are all on call . . . literally.  From Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet to the Darling children from Peter Pan, they all live in the theater.  Bertie herself prefers to hang with Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed, fairies from A Midsummer Night's Dream. But Bertie is not a player, so therefore she is not an asset to the theater, and there is a possibility that she might have to leave . . . Jumping into action, Bertie creates a plan that might save her day, but will she harm Nate, a pirate from The Little Mermaid and a very good looking guy, with her rash actions?  And will she find the strenght to trust the Ariel, the air elemental from the Tempest, who wants to leave the theater and Bertie forever? 

In Perchance to Dream, Beatrice Shakspeare Smith and Company heads out for the open road the and sea.  Bertie is eager to find Nate, but with Ariel at her side, that is anything but easy.  With her father on the winds, and her mother back at the theater Bertie is feeling torn between Nate, Ariel, her destiny, and her family.  Will she have the strength to find Senda and pull Nate back from the brink, or will her dreams dissolve into brine? 

So Sliver Bright wraps up the triology, bringing on a fresh challenge and a fresh wave of heartbreak.  With Ariel threatening to leave forever and a royal summons from Her Royal Majesty herself, will Bertie be able to keep Sedna from destroying all she loves while reuniting her family, or will it just fall apart on its own before she can do anything about it?  The world is crumbling around her, and Beatrice Shakespeare Smith must find the strength to be her own person before she falls with it. 

These books are full of geniune teenage heartbreak.  With an eighteen-year-old as the heroine, and two males as the co-stars, there was bound to be some of that, but . . . The plot moves quickly, though you wonder what is Sedna's place in the whole thing.  Is she just the Sea Goddess or did she somehow escape from The Little Mermaid?  Also, the pieces try to fit together, but they are sometimes crammed or poorly thought out.  Characters such as Serefina and Varvara seem to be clues to something else, but end up as loose ends.  And though what Bertie writes can take a literal meaning, the world around her doesn't quite make sense either.  There is one scene that I cannot get, the one where they're in the Imperial Tea Room in So Sliver Bright, and a forest grows up around them.  And why on earth is Bertie a 'child of earth' if her mother embodies water and her father embodies air?  What is with that whole 'Queen of the Forest' thing? 
        I like Bertie's spunk though, and the fact that she's usually so confident.  I mean, what other girl would dye their hair a different color everyday of the week and come up with the schemes she does?  The fairies are hysterical too.  For hyper, sugar-loving, face-stuffing, rude things that are three inches tall and are extremely immature they are a laugh a minute.  One scene that had me clutching my sides was the one in which the boys eat Pease's boyfriend, 'Henry', the groom from a wedding cake in Perchance to Dream. 
         Sometimes you wish that the books would get around to their point a bit sooner.  And it also is very painful to moi that Bertie ruins at least one beautiful dress every fifty pages.  But while you're getting to the point there are plenty of smiles and sweet scenes, and the way Bertie destroys her clothing is most interesting.  Whatever faults these books may have they are fixed because the characters are so wonderful.
         So, now I have a sudden urge to go read the complete works of Shakespeare . . .
        (P.S. I don't like the ending of So Silver Bright, just so you know.  Yes, it was a twist, but now I am seriously annoyed at Lisa Mantchev.  It's very sad . . . and I don't like the guy Bertie ended up wtih.)

http://theatre-illuminata.com/  Is the website.  It has better summaries of the books, and some funny photos.  Oh, and just so you don't get your hopes up, 'The Great Fairy Hunt' is not a computer game.

Tangerine

A bit of realistic fiction for you:  Tangerine by Edward Bloor.
       The Fishers have just moved to Lake Windsor, Florida, in the county of Tangerine, from Houston, Texas. Erik Fisher is the family's star child and football perfectionist. He's been known to kick fifty yard field goals, and his father likes to brag about how his son never misses any extra points.  The Erik Fisher Football Dream lives on in both father and son. 
        As told through Erik's little brother's, Paul's, eyes, this story spins a tale of a big-city family making a splash in a little-town pond.  And though Paul plays the part of a second-string goalie for the best soccer team in the county, no one notices.  Paul has been tossed into the shadows in favor of the Erik Fisher Football dream, but he can see what no one else can see.  Will he be able to speak the truth after witnessing his frightening older brother come unhinged?

Yes, this story is a sports story, but it is not a story about sports.  It's a story about a family struggling to pretend that everything's okay.  It's a story about a boy who's trying to figure out where he fits in, even as his older brother scares him to death. It's also a story about finding your voice and telling the world the truth.
       I like the character of Paul because he isn't dynamic.  In the course of the story he doesn't change from a pathetic wimp who lets his brother push him around to a strong hero ready to take on the world.  He always knows who he is, but he can't always find the words to show it.  He isn't a scaredy-cat afraid to show his face who suddenly turns into someone who can face his fears.  It suggests that anyone can do be brave like that.  It suggests that anyone can be strong and close their eyes to the consequences. 
      Edward Bloor's story is most enjoyable because it can build up such a tension at times that you feel like you're running out onto the soccer fields with the War Eagles at your heels yourself.