Teen review: The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

Today's teen recommendation comes from Allie, and is the 2nd in a series that we've heard wonderful things about: The Wise Man's Fear. 

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What Did You Read? 

The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss (Bk 2 in the Kingkiller Chronicle).

I'd say this book was *mostly* about... 

An adventure, a magical world.

This book's main character(s)...

Had a rough time.

If others were interested in this book, I'd tell them...

Check it out RIGHT NOW.

The Treachery of Beautiful Things

The trees had swallowed Tom whole. . .

When she was ten-years-old, Jenny watched her brother disappear into the forest.  He was taken by the trees come to life.  Jenny tried to explain the bizarre kidnapping and the terrifying creature made of leaves and thorns who took her brother away from her but, of course, no one believed her.  By the time she is seventeen, her reputation for oddness has left her secluded from her classmates, Jenny's brother has never returned, and her family is shattered by their grief.  At long last, Jenny returns to the last place she saw Tom, determined to overcome her fear.  She walks into the trees and into another world.

On the other side of the tree line, the world of the Fey awaits.  Taken under the care of Jack, the Guardian of the Edge,--a handsome young man with one blue eye and one green--Jenny is supposed to leave the fey world at once.  But Jenny refuses to go when she understands that not only isn't she insane--the trees really did kidnap Tom--but that magically she has found her one chance to bring him home again.  Only Tom is the prisoner of the Queen Titania, and Jack is the slave of King Oberon, the two most powerful beings in the fey world, who both have opposing plans for Jenny. And the Queen and King are not the only dangers. Jenny quickly learns that the world of the forest holds many magics--most of them deadly.  In the most unsettling episode of the book, Jenny is set upon by redcaps, tiny, spiderlike creatures who swarm her--this scene will leave the reader's skin crawling.  Jenny refuses to stop her quest for Tom, even though the tree creature who took him keeps appearing in the forest, spiking Jenny's terror.  Jenny pushes on with her sometimes friend, sometimes enemy, Jack, and his sometimes friend, sometimes foe, Puck the Faun.  As her quest continues, her relationship with the beings of the forest grows and the danger to them all grows as well.

A good choice for fans of dark faerie.

Bones of Faerie

Post-apocalyptic fiction is all the rage these days. It’s always been a favorite genre for me. I wasn’t expecting Bones of Faerie to fit into this category but strangely it does. The world in this book is no longer the one we know now. Modern civilization was destroyed in the War with Faerie and though some human survivors remember the time Before, most of the world has reverted to a pre-industrial revolution way of life. It turns out that though most humans weren’t aware of it, magic was and is real, the world of Faerie was real too, and when,it’s implied, humans destroyed too much of the Earth, Faerie had enough and let us have it. Using magic, they turned plants and trees into sentient attackers. Loads of humans died; loads of faeries died. Now the remaining humans fear magic. Any humans born with a hint of magic about them are put to death. When Liza’s infant sister is born with telltale magic signs, her father leaves her on a hillside to perish. Too late Liza goes to try to save her sister and finds only the remains wild animals have left behind. Her mother abandons the family in grief. Shortly thereafter, Liza starts suffering magical visions and flees as well. She’s followed by Matthew, a friend and potential love interest, and together they discover a nearby community where the populace has embraced and honed their magical abilities, not feared and destroyed them. Following her visions, Liza realizes there is a chance her mother might have survived and she goes on a quest to find her mother.

I read this book because it’s been nominated for our Mock Printz discussion. I can’t say I think it’s going to win the Printz, but it was a worthwhile read and a fast one. I liked the unusual world the author created, especially the sentient plants. I found the mix of post-apocalypse and fantasy a little uneasy, not as fluid as Carrie Ryan’s The Forest of Hands and Teeth, as though I were always on the verge of not being able to suspend my disbelief, but in the end I accepted it. Some of the bit players weren’t as well developed as other. Allie, a young healer, seems like a pretty stock character. Matthew seems not to have any personality at all—sure he can shape-shift into a wolf, but even his magical ability seems not to match the magic of the rest of the fictional world; he seems to exist mostly to make Liza’s journey easier and secondarily because teen readers like their love interests. On the other hand, the faerie characters are intriguing and Liza is interesting enough to carry the action. The plot holds the reader’s attention and the stakes are high—failing in the quest means death for all three of our main characters. Success means a better future for the world at large.

Some lingering questions remain. For instance it isn’t clear why humans have magic. Did they interbreed with faeries at some point? Have they always repressed their magical abilities? Why would Liza’s mother, who once cavorted in a faerie land, go to the abusive man who became her husband? Well, perhaps these are queries for the reader to answer in her own mind or perhaps the author plans a sequel. I'd be willing to read that. According to the jacket, this is Janni Lee Simner's first novel for teens.

Wings

Basic plot synopsis: Preternaturally lovely teenage girl discovers she is something other than human—the big tip-off is when she starts growing wing-like flowers out of her spine--and that she is to play a key role in securing the future of her supernatural kin. Insert love triangle between girl, human boy, and supernatural boy. Add villains for conflict. Mix and enjoy.

It took me about 50-60 pages to get into this book. Honestly I almost gave up on it, but I hung in there and did end up enjoying the read. I only wish the first several chapters weren’t full of awkward dialogue, flat character development, and way-too-obvious clue dropping. Things steadily improve once the plot gets going. I wish the author had truncated the whole discovery-of-supernatural-self portion since the reader knows from the book cover that this discovery is coming. Once the character, Tamani, (the more alluring of the two guys in the love triangle) appears, the book gets infinitely better. The author slips back into cliché dialogue when the Big Conflict with the Bad Guy scene unfolds—for instance: “You’re not going to get away with this,” and “You can scream all you want now. No one’ll hear you.”--but happily this sort of dialogue passes quickly, and the interesting elements of the story resume.

There are quite a few people on hold for this book and it’s the kind of story that will appeal to Twilight fans. Many readers won’t mind or notice the things that gave me pause. One thing I did like is that the main character is a very strong girl who takes action. The end is set up for a sequel or a series, and I would certainly read more. Hopefully the second book will be a little more subtle than the first with less canned dialogue and even more emphasis on the love triangle.

Confession Time!

As a Teen Librarian, part of my job is to keep up with what's new and cool. Basically, I try to keep tabs, in my middle-aged way, on what teens like and don't like. And for the most part, I would say that teens have pretty good taste.

However, there are some things that the teens who hang out at the library like, that I don't get at all.

For example, the band Flyleaf. Especially the song "I'm So Sick." Whenever we play Rock Band at the Game Labs, this song gets played over and over and over again. Why? She's screaming. Not really singing... just... screaming. A lot. And I get headaches.

I also don't get The Hills. Do the people on that show do anything? Because it doesn't seem like they do. It seems like they talk about each other behind each other's backs and get their picture taken. I don't understand why that is entertaining.

And finally, I must confess that I don't get Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. I'm sure that Karen and Kristin will be all over me for this one, but, really, what's the big deal? I read Twilight when it first came out, and thought it was O.K. Not good, not bad, just... O.K. I could understand why some girls might really groove on the whole forbidden romance thing, but honestly, I didn't expect it to become the phenomenon it has.

Recently, I went back and skimmed Twilight again, thinking that maybe I missed something. The second time I read it, some things about it really bothered me. Namely, how passive Bella is. In college-lit speak, Bella has no agency -- which is just a way of saying that she doesn't act on her own, circumstances or other characters act for her. She's just sort of there, damsel-in-distress style.

However, I do know that I am in the minority, and that there is an almost constant demand for "Books Like Twilight". So, to all those looking for something to read while they wait for Breaking Dawn, I'd like to recommend Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr.

Like most teenagers, Aislinn (Ash to her friends) has to keep to a very specific set of rules. However, unlike most teenagers, she agrees with the rules her grandmother has set down, and knows that they are for her protection. Both Aislinn and her grandmother can see Faeries -- and they're not the princesses with wings that the cartoons would have you believe. Faeries are dangerous and cruel, and they really don't like it when mortals can see them. So Ash keeps her head down, trusting in the fey's aversion to iron to keep her safe.

But when Keenan, a gorgeous male faerie, begins following Ash, she doesn't know what to do. She wishes they would just go away, and leave her alone with her smokin' hot friend Seth. However, when Keenan tells Ash that she is his queen, and she must love him or die, Ash doesn't just accept that. She rebels against Keenan's high handed treatment of her, and uses her brains and instincts to find a solution that she can live with. She also doesn't let herself become a victim of Keenan's mother, the Winter Queen, who wants Ash to remain powerless for her own reasons.

I liked this book because Marr does a great job of creating a believable world of faeries. She sets up realistic conflicts between Keenan and the Winter Queen and between Keenan and Ash. But mostly I liked it be Aislinn isn't willing to swoon into Keenan's arms and give up everything she wants for him. Nor does she go the Daphne from Scooby-Doo route, getting herself into danger and waiting to be rescued. She thinks, and she acts.

Not everything about this book is perfect. Seth, Ash's best "friend" is a little too perfect to be real, and the ending feels sort of rushed. However, if you're dying for a little supernatural romance, Wicked Lovely is a great bet.