Troy High

Troy High by Shana Norris is fun. That is, I think, the best word for it. It's a stand-alone novel with a fast pace and a simple story. The basic idea is that it's a modern retelling of the Iliad. Two rival high schools, with football teams named the Trojans and the Spartans. Incidentally, my grade school's mascot was the Trojans, which you can bet we made jokes about when we were old enough to understand the sort of jokes that might be made. In any case, Trojans and Spartans are bitter enemies. Our heroine, Cassie Prince, is a rare exception, since her best friend, Greg Mennon, is a Spartan while she is a Trojan. Cassie, based on Cassandra the Seer in the Iliad, is the only who sees that trouble might be afoot when Elena Argos, a recent transfer from Lacede, home of the Spartans, decides to dump her old boyfriend Lucas Mennon for Perry Prince. This transfer of affection is perceived as an insult to Spartan pride, and the rivalry between the two schools gets even more heated. Pranks escalate, and Cassie is torn between loyalty to her brothers, the star players for the Trojans, and loyalty to Greg, her best friend whom she has also realized she has feelings for.

The reason this story works, I think, is that Elena is not a one-dimensional, catty popular girl. She's the start of all the trouble, and she is rather a typical cheerleader, but she's genuinely nice to Cassie, which makes Cassie's continued loyalty to Elena and the Trojans that much more believable. Greg's a good guy, but he also falls prey to the rivalry, so, again, the loyalty issue is complicated in a way where you don't think Cassie is dumb for not doing one thing or the other. The story zips along, without too much dwelling on teen angst, and Cassie has a natural narrative voice which doesn't jerk you out of the story. Troy High is not exactly going to become a classic of western literature like its source material, but it's definitely a fun read that I highly recommend.

The Hourglass Door

The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum is above average romance/adventure fare. Abby Edmunds is a totally normal high school senior with a normal life: she spends time with her boyfriend, applies for colleges along with her best friends, and assistant directs the school's production of Much Ado About Nothing. But at play practice one day she meets the new Italian exchange student, Dante Alexander. As is expected in books like this, she is immediately attracted to him. However, what kept me reading was that Dante was not a brooding, mysterious bad boy, or, rather, there was more to him than that. He and Abby develop a friendship and chemistry between the two of them that is fairly legitimately built up as lacking in Abby's relationship with Jason, her neighbor/childhood friend/boyfriend. Also to the book's credit is that Jason isn't depicted as some dumb lug; he's a truly nice, thoughtful guy who cares about Abby and she about him, even if there's no spark of romance there. The historical/time travel elements of the plot are handled well enough, although we don't get much resolution because, of course, this is a series and not a stand-alone novel. I'll keep an eye out for the second book, and I hope that we get to visit sixteenth-century Italy, because we know that Renaissance Italy is a favorite setting of mine, just as I love to see theatre and drama in books. Well, overall, The Hourglass Door was a decent read, even if it's not anything to rave about.

Perchance to Dream

We start with a correction to the Twilight Zone entry. Richard Matheson did not write a novel called Perchance to Dream; his novel is called What Dreams May Come. I suppose the similar names (both phrases being from Hamlet's famous soliloquy), along with the fact that today's book does share a name with Charles Beaumont's short story, caused the mix-up.

Well! Without further ado, let us move on to the book of the entry, Lisa Mantchev's Perchance to Dream. A sequel to Eyes Like Stars, this novel wraps up the story begun in the first book. Beatrice Shakespeare Smith is off on a quest to rescue her pirate lover Nate from the clutches of Sedna the sea goddess with her fairy allies and the spirit Ariel. Other characters include an enigmatic thief and Bertie's father, as well as a troupe of traveling players. The sea goddess herself even makes an appearance. Well, look, I have to be honest. As much as I did enjoy this book, it was not as good as the first. Eyes Like Stars. If you'll allow me to get theatrical here, I think it was the way the first book kept close to the Aristotelian unities of time, place, and action. The action was compressed to within just a few days, it all took place within a few locales in the theatre, and there was really only one main plot. (It doesn't completely keep with the unities, but that is totally understandable as a book is not a play, and, anyway, the unities are kind of boring. But you can't go wrong with keeping things simple at times!) Perchance to Dream throws Bertie and her company into the wilder world outside the theatre, but while I eventually got into the groove of what was going on, the way the magic of words was introduced and used kept confusing me, and I just kind of went along with the flow instead of really absorbing what was going on. Waschbar and the Scrimshander were both important characters, but they were really abruptly introduced. I just felt that the novel's breakneck pace and piles of new information made it a bit of muddle. Diana Wynne Jones can pull that sort of thing off, but she's a rare writer. However, for all that I'm complaining, I still genuinely liked this book. I'll also give Ms. Mantchev props for handling the romance. It could have so easily turned into something like Twilight, except for Bertie's more sensible outlook. And I have to admit that I actually gained sympathy for Ariel, whom I was not particularly fond of in the first book. Really, all of the characters shone by the end of this book, even the Scrimshander, who took even longer to win me over than Ariel did. Wikipedia tells me there will be a third book. With luck, it will slow down the pacing and focus more on the characters in a single theatrical setting, what made the first book so great.

The Prince of Mist

The Prince of Mist could be called The Shadow of the Wind lite, except that would be doing a disservice to both books. The Prince of Mist could perhaps be said to be a precursor, an introduction to Zafon's masterwork, except that also seems to belittle the shorter but no less enthralling earlier book. The Prince of Mist is one of those children's books that is not a children's book, because it can be enjoyed by anyone, and associating it only with children would be doing it a disservice, though heaven knows that child readers are no idiots. I suppose I could best compare The Prince of Mist to The Westing Game in this regard. Child characters and a writing style a child could comprehend, but a very intricate plot and unexpectedly dark plot material. Haunted statues, a devilish man with dark magic, a sunken ship that went down with dozens of forsaken souls on board, a house built by a rich man whose family was soon after struck by tragedy, all of this is trademark Zafon, and everything comes together in a tight plot that will tug at your heart and make you glad to have a light on while you read. This is an excellent tragedy, and it's all the better for having characters you as the reader will identify and sympathize with. Max is a well-executed normal boy protagonist, Alicia is neither too haughty nor too sensual to be unlikable, and Roland is just shy of being too cocky, and so you don't end up hating him. I mean, when I started reading, I was sure I could peg the character types, but it was pleasant to find that instead of just being types, the three main characters were actually individual personalities. But still, first novel or not, I should not have expected less from Zafon.

Well, this was more reflection than review. Ah, get used to it, I guess? Okay, okay, here's a bit about the actual plot. With World War II looming, Max and his family move from the city to a seaside town. The town is sleepy, but the house Max's family moves into is wreathed in a tragic past. Max's new friend Roland tells him and his sister Alicia about the Fleischmann family who lived there until their son Jacob died. Meanwhile, Max discovers a garden full of freakin' creepy statues including one of a scary clown. I mean, jeez, Zafon, dead children aren't enough for you, you have to freaking have clowns in this book? Master of horror, indeed. Tragedy circles ever closer around Max, Alicia, and Roland, and connected to it all is a mysterious character called the Prince of Mist.

Anyway! If you haven't read anything by Zafon, either this book or The Shadow of the Wind is good to start with. And you should start with one of them. Right now. Because Zafon is amazing.

Once Upon A Marigold

Title: Once Upon A Marigold
Author: Jean Ferris

What it's about: Christian runs away from home and is raised by a troll as his foster father for eleven years. He eventually starts a long-distance friendship with the princess in the castle across the river by sending messages with trained pigeons. Eventually, Chris realizes it's time to strike out on his own, so he goes to the castle for a job and ends up way over his head in trouble and all sorts of stuff like that.

What I thought: If there were to ever be a movie version of this story, I think it would be like a combination of the movie Stardust and the television series Pushing Daisies. Very whimsical feel to it. This is a hopeful, optimistic book. It's slightly cheesy, but not enough so that it really detracts. I mean, pragmatic ol' me sometimes was like, okay, guys, seriously, let's cut the power of love stuff here. This isn't an anime or bad fan fiction. But still, for a story that's so much about love and friendship and good guys coming out on top, this is really well-executed. There's very much a theme of coming of age to this book, too. I think the main thing I could say is that there's never really any suspense. Bad stuff happens, but the tone of the book just makes you feel like everything will be all right in the end, so you don't need to really worry.

Overall: A good, uplifting read. Give it a shot, I say.