Tag: Fantasy Page 48 of 54

GUEST POST: Behind the Scenes – Rafael Lovato

On June 29, 2016

In Book Tour, Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

Magimakía – the quest for Merlin is the first book of a contemporary fantasy series for Young Adults that explores the universe of RPG and MMORPG. In it, Oliver, a naive young virgin bullied 15 year old boy, without any knowledge of magic, trying to find the mage Merlin and save the Order of Mages and Witches of undoubted extinction, ends his journey victim of a magnificent and at the same time terrible event.

From a young age I always wanted to write a fantasy novel, because of my experience with (MMO)RPG games like Diablo and World of Warcraft. The magical universe, the battles and the powerful characters fascinated me. But writing a fantasy book is not something simple. So, after five books published and feeling capable of a foray into this universe, I finally wrote Magimakía – The search for Merlin.

The first step was to choose about what would be the story, and what kind of races and powers I would use in it. Since I always liked fantasy movies, and there was no way for me to escape this influence, I took Tolkien’s idea of introducing demons as non-religious entities (from Lord of the Rings, the battle between Gandalf and the Balrog). Alongside the demons, I brought angels, who resemble paladins, also not religious, and mages, witches, elves, trolls and goblins.

Regarding the writing itself, to construct the history I used the Hollywood structure, with the characteristics turning points structure (10%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 95%). Also, took great care to develop the “arc of the characters”, and build well-marked voices for the three book narratives: Benjamin, goblins and Oliver. The scenes and sequels respect the international structure (Scene: objective, obstacle and disaster; sequel: reaction dilemma and decision), and wrote the entire text within the MRU’s technique (motivation and reaction units).

The story itself respects the dynamics of the RPG universe, with close attention to powers mathematics. This means that all races powers are balanced, as well as the most powerful entities. To a careful analysis, you can identify that in the mechanics of battles there are warriors, generals, mini-bosses, bosses, and world bosses. This engine respects the dynamics of RPG games, to appeal to the book’s target audience, who are young adult video-gamers aged 12 to 25 (and adults too, of course).

The book was originally written in Portuguese and published in Brazil by Editora Zap Book (eBook and print) and in Portugal by Editora Chiado (print and eBook), both in June/15. Availing the fact that I speak English fluently, I wrote the English version of the book, and introduced it to a US editor, for editing. I was fortunate to present the manuscript to Ravenswood, who did not hesitate to offer me a publishing contract.

About myself, I am a well-established Brazilian author with six books commercially published, being Magimakía – the quest for Merlin the latest. Recently the Oxford University Press bought a short story of my to use in their courseware as writing model for fiction short stories, already published in the book Portuguese language for 6th grade, by Oxford. Magimakía already is the best-selling book of my Brazilian Publisher, which is starting a national advertising campaign of the book.

The Quest for Merlin: Magimakía by Rafael Lovato Book Tour

By HCNewton

On June 29, 2016

In Book Tour, Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

Welcome to our Book Tour stop for The Quest for Merlin: Magimakía. In addition to this blurb about the book and author, I’ve got a a Guest Post from Rafael Lovato about the life of this book up to this point and my 2¢ about the book.

Book Details:

Title: The Quest for Merlin: Magimakía (Book 1)
Author: Rafael Lovato
Release Date: June 30, 2016
Page Count: 286
ISBN: 978-1530797950 & 1530797950
Imprint: Howling Wolf

Keywords: young adult fantasy, goblin hero, angels and demons, witchcraft, RPG games, elves fairies trolls, merlin series
Genre(s): Young Adult/Fantasy/ Action Adventure

Synopsis:

The Quest for Merlin is the first book of the Young Adult fantasy series Magimakía, goblin word meaning “The Great Battle of Mages and Witches.”

Follow Oliver’s journey, a skinny, naive 15 year old boy who knows nothing about magic, let alone how to survive high school as a bullied and outcast teen, as he attempts to help save the Order of Mages from destined extinction.

Kidnapped by a midget goblin and his troll cohorts, Oliver’s only hope is to learn the whereabouts of the all powerful Merlin who has been missing for over 500 years.

With the help of two witches, Avery and Violet, Oliver begins his journey in a world full of potions, spells, and bubbling cauldrons, learning a lot about witchcraft and magic.

You will be spellbound as you are transported into this amazing landscape where anything could happen, as tragic events unfold that could keep Oliver from saving Merlin and the entire world of Mages and Witches!

One Liner: Magimakía – the Quest for Merlin is the first book of a contemporary fantasy series for young adults that explores the universe of RPG and MMORPG where a naive, bullied 15 year old boy, without any knowledge of magic, tries to find the mage Merlin and save the Order of Mages and Witches from destined extinction.

Author Bio:

Rafael Lovato is a Brazilian author with six books published commercially in Brazil, and one in Portugal, Magimakía, a busca por Merlin. This is his first book published in the US. In 2014, the prestigious Oxford University Press bought one of his award-winning short story to use in their courseware as writing model to teach students, already published in the book Portuguese language for 6th Grade, by Oxford.

For More Info:

Book Page: http://ravenswoodpublishing.com/bookpages/magimakiabookone.html

Author Links: http://www.rlovato.com.br
https://www.facebook.com/operegrinojoshua
https://twitter.com/rlovatoescritor

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/The-Quest-Merlin-Magimakía-Book-ebook/dp/B01EI2R4V8
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quest-Merlin-Magimakía-Book-ebook/dp/B01EI2R4V8
Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01EI2R4V8
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-quest-for-merlin-rafael-lovato/1123675514;jsessionid=3E933572BB6A6699C9EB512693D80A46.prodny_store01-atgap05?ean=2940153226026
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/the-quest-for-merlin
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Rafael_Lovato_The_Quest_for_Merlin_Magimak%C3%ADa?id=S7b-CwAAQBAJ&hl=en
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1105254907
Createspace: https://www.createspace.com/6173524

Steel Victory by J. L. Gribble

By HCNewton

On June 14, 2016

In Fiction

Steel Victory

by J. L. Gribble
Series: Steel Empires, Book 1

Kindle Edition, 216 pg.
Dog Star Books, 2015

Read: June 10 – 11, 2016

This is a doozy to know how to categorize — it’s Post-Apocalyptic (but not really dystopian), it’s Futuristic (but little tech and everyone uses swords), it’s Urban Fantasy (but, pretty different from what you’ve seen before). Basically, this is the kind of thing that
Mike Underwood has been talking about, the kind of thing that Angry Robot does so well when they list 3 or 4 sub-genres on the back of a book. So, you’ll have to settle for me saying it’s a good story about vampires, weres of various stripes, mages, mercenaries, humans, elves, Romans, and Brits.

The first thing to talk about is the world building — it’s great. Gribble doesn’t get bogged down in the details of the world, but you get the sense that they’re present. And what you are given demonstrate a fleshed-out reality — the magic system, the political structures (within the city and internationally), the races, the history (personal and global) — really she has it all together here. Better yet, she (mostly) explains it bit by bit in a way that serves the story, not bringing it to a halt to give us a lesson.

I’ve started — and deleted — a few versions of a couple of paragraphs talking about the characters and plotlines — they’ve been too detailed/spoilery/boring or vague/confusing/boring. And it’s not her, it’s me — this is an interesting book full of characters you want more of in situations that push them to be their best. I feel really bad that I can’t come up with anything here that works. So let me borrow the official cover copy:

One hundred years ago, the vampire Victory retired from a centuries-long mercenary career. She settled in Limani, the independent city-state acting as a neutral zone between the British and Roman colonies on the New Continent.

Twenty years ago, Victory adopted a human baby girl, who soon showed signs of magical ability.

Today, Victory is a city councilwoman, balancing the human and supernatural populations within Limani. Her daughter Toria is a warrior-mage, balancing life as an apprentice mercenary with college chemistry courses.

Tomorrow, the Roman Empire invades.

The last portion of the book wasn’t entirely satisfying — I liked the way the main storylines wrapped up, and appreciated that by and large you don’t have to come back for a sequel or two for some real closure. But things felt a bit rushed, and I had a couple of other little hangups. There was one character that seemed to get dropped partway through (I don’t think that’s what happened, but felt that way), which was troublesome. About the same time, a cultural movement seemed to peter out a little too quickly. But that could be explained by a focus (both in the narrative and in the city) on the military action. Still, a bit rushed is better than very rushed, or abruptly paused to set up a second book.

From the action of the beginning, to the political intrigue, to the action-filled end this was a pretty entertaining read. I liked this one, I look forward to getting back to this world and characters, and do think that anyone open to reading this genre-mix would appreciate it.

Disclaimer: The author provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

—–

3.5 Stars

Giovanni Goes To Med School by Kathy Bryson

By HCNewton

On May 10, 2016

In Fiction

Giovanni Goes To Med School

by Kathy Bryson

Kindle Edition, 70 pg.
Kathy Bryson Books, 2016

Read: May 7, 2016

Giovanni is an aspiring medical student and an ER scribe who just started working in the hospital morgue on the overnight shift, Astral is a first year resident with plenty of attitude; Rufus is Mrs. Harris’ rather large dog, temporarily in Giovanni’s care; Mrs. Harris was a patient of Astral’s that Gio helped with, and sadly, didn’t make it — but she just won’t shut up and leave Gio alone.

Yeah, you read that right.

There’s humor here, a little gore — and far more detail about the process that a decaying corpse goes through than I wanted to know — and a nice little story.

What isn’t there? Any real idea why Mrs. Harris is up to what she’s up to (there’s one explanation that seems to carry the day, but even it doesn’t fully work). In the moment it works — but when you put this down, it starts to nag at you.

It’s enjoyable enough, a quick read, and there’s a lot of potential here. I’m going to give this a tentative 3 Stars — because so much is left unexplained, so much is uncertain about what happens here, if we’re given at least a hint of some answers or explanations in the next one (or a good reason why we’re not given hints of answers yet), I’ll stand by it. But without that, there’s just too much uncertainty for me to strongly encourage anyone read this.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this from the author in exchange for an honest review.

—–

3 Stars

Perfect Family by H. Lovelyn Bettison

By HCNewton

On May 10, 2016

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature

Perfect Family

by H. Lovelyn Bettison

Kindle Edition, 162 pg.
Nebulous Mooch, 2016

Read: May 5, 2016

Let me just get this out of the way, if this doesn’t make you think of an episode (I won’t say which) of Star Trek: The Next Generation you’re not paying attention. Bettison’s take on it is more satisfactory, however.

Bettison has given us a nice little piece of Magical Realism — Sadie and her husband, Kevin, have a cute little boy named Marcus, and a devoted golden retriever, Sammy. All in all, it’s a perfect family, a part of the perfect life that Sadie’s always wanted.

And then Marcus starts doing things that are beyond belief. As the reader learns about what Marcus’ abilities are and start to wonder where those abilities come from (as Kevin and Sadie are). But we also start to learn that their family isn’t quite as ideal as they might seem — but perhaps even more perfect, than Sadie realizes (that makes sense to me, and will probably make sense to anyone who’s read this).

There are parts of this book — when Marcus first displays his abilities, for example — that are disturbing, there’s some real dark times, too. In other hands, this could’ve been a very different kind of book — not that hopeful or anything, but borderline-horror. But that’s not what Bettison gave us — there’s life and love amidst the darkness.

On the one hand, I wanted more detail, more explanation, more exploration of Marcus’ abilities, but I’m pretty sure that if I got what I wanted, the story wouldn’t work as well as it did.

Give this one a read, you’ll be pleased.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this from the author in exchange for an honest review.

—–

3 Stars

Indexing (Audiobook) by Seanan McGuire, Mary Robinette Kowal

By HCNewton

On May 4, 2016

In Authors, Fiction, Indexing, K-O, Seanan McGuire, Urban Fantasy

Indexing

by Seanan McGuire, Mary Robinette Kowal
(Narrator)
Series: Indexing, #1

Unabridged Audiobook, 13 hours
BrillianceAudio, 2015
It could easily be argued that I’ve said enough (if not too much) about Indexing. So I’m not going to talk about the story, the writing, and so on, beyond this: not listening to this episodically like I read it, highlights strengths and weaknesses. For example, it’s minor, but the way she has to re-introduce the cast in every episode gets pretty tiring when you hear them all minutes apart — but you don’t really notice at all when you read them every 2 weeks.

The book as a whole is developed better and more fully than I realized initially — the whole thing is a lot more connected than I realized. I’d been intending to kick back and read the whole thing sometime to see how it held together, and I’m glad I got the chance to with the audiobook. It’s really a much stronger whole than I realized.

The main thing I want to talk about is Mary Robinette Kowal (that’s three audiobooks in a row from her, I have to take a break before I just assume that every audiobook is by her). She was fantastic. Her Sloane wasn’t anything like the Sloane in my head, but far superior. The rest of the team was spot on — but the best was Henry. The little inflections of her voice when Henry was closest to her Story, when she was at her most Snow White-ness, added so much to McGuire’s words. I really couldn’t believe how much more I got out of it through her interpretation of the character. Just outstanding.

If you haven’t read the stories or book yet, I do recommend them — but if you get the chance, go with the audio instead. A recommendation I never thought I’d say about any book and audiobook.

—–

4 Stars

Off to See the Wizard by Clay Johnson

By HCNewton

On April 26, 2016

In Book Tour, Fiction

Here we are at the end of our day-long Book Tour stop for Off to See the Wizard (see Parts One, Two, and Three). Hope you enjoyed it.
—

Off to See the Wizard

by Clay Johnson

Kindle Edition, 373 pg.

Ravenswood Publishing, 2016
Read: April 18 – 22, 2016

From the beginning? Are you certain? The beginning is pretty dull, you know. All of the violence comes later. The beginning is just sex and blood and guts, and— yes, right, I see it now; fair point.

Let’s see… it began with that dwarf. At least, I think he was a dwarf. He may have been a child. I don’t honestly pay much attention to the jesters they hire. Mostly, they are little more than jingling bells in the background. I know he was very short. Wait! He had a beard. One of those awful, disgusting sort that grow scraggly and in patches. Looked like he’d glued stringy chunks of carpet to his cheeks; do you know the sort?

Yes, had to have been a dwarf.

A tale of an attempted apocalypse, a quest to thwart it, love (or something like it) in bloom, love (or something like it) in trouble, and the aftermath of it all. It may not sound like fodder for comedy, but in Clay Johnson’s hands, it is.

A royal feast ends abruptly, and in a disturbing way (although the way it’s narrated, its pretty humorous). And then soon, horrible things (mostly involving blood in places and amounts no one wants) start happening all over. Naturally, citizens, royalty and everyone in between demands answers — so they turn to a wizard to tell them what’s going on and how to stop it. The wizard has no clue (this will be a recurring theme), but sets off on a quest to find out. He takes his girlfriend, a swordsman, and a redshirt (the wizard has a strong sense of self-preservation). He soon regrets all of these choices — his girlfriend spends most of the time upset with him, the redshirt is a mopey kid who writes horrible poems (and is never used as cannon fodder), the swordsman deserts them. Thankfully, a better swordsman, and a drunken elf queen in training join up after that. Really, very little goes well on the quest.

Meanwhile, the Demon Lord who started the whole thing, really didn’t mean to — he was actually trying to do something else, and it went horribly wrong (I’ll leave it to you to learn what) — and he spends most of the book trying to ameliorate the situation and get his original purpose back on track. Very little goes well for him, either.

In the end, things are a giant mess, so a Royal Inquisitor is sent out to investigate it afterwards, and the book is a edited together compilation of transcripts of his interviews with witnesses, the quest party, the villains of the piece, and others. The mutually contradictory takes on the events given by the various interviewees are hilarious — each person has a strong voice, you pretty much get to the point where you skip the text identifying who’s speaking, you can tell who it is just from their language. It doesn’t take long for the reader to suss out how to take the competing versions and get to a pretty good idea of what really happened.

I don’t remember the details, and am short on time, so I can’t look for them. But somewhere, C. S. Lewis talks about why it’s appropriate (well, at least not totally inappropriate) to laugh at bawdy jokes if they’re cleverly told, involve some creative word play, and so on — not at the vulgarity of them. Given that cover by the noted apologist, I can freely admit that I laughed plenty at this. Johnson’s characters, their dialogue, and his creative use of words and imagery are wielded so well, that you just could help but laugh (even a few times when I knew Lewis wouldn’t approve of it). This is what Franco, McBride and the rest were going for in the movie Your Highness a couple of years ago — a funny fantasy. The Princess Bride for those who appreciate rated-R comedies.

For example, there’s a moment that got me laughing out loud — a lot — where someone inadvertently invents/coins one of the seven words you ~~can’t~~ couldn’t say on TV. The effect that word has on the most hardened criminals in the kingdoms was fantastic — it’s a moment that’ll stick with me for awhile.

From time to time the narrative started to drag a little bit, and I’d start to wonder if anything was actually going to happen. But within a page, I’d chuckle at something again and forget about the slow plot.

In the end, it was a little too off-color for me, but Johnson pulled it off in such a way that I was able to put that aside and enjoy his story and his story-telling. Really, Off to See the Wizard is the funniest thing I’ve read this year — and I can’t imagine much topping it.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the nice folks at Ravenswood Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

—–

4 Stars

Guest Post: The Machine Keeps Feeding Me by Clay Johnson

By HCNewton

On April 26, 2016

In Book Tour, Fiction, News/Misc., Writing

Welcome to Part Two of our participation in the Off to See the Wizard Book Tour (see Part One), a couple more posts will be up in a while. This is a Guest Post by Clay Johnson, the novel’s author, about his process:
—
I have to hear the words in my head before I start writing, or I’m pretty much hosed. I used to plan out the whole story, or at least try to. I spent a lot of time thinking about it, picturing the action and the plot points, really getting into the thing. I did a lot of imagining while listening to music. I figured if I could see what I wanted to write, then I was golden. Unfortunately, when it came time to actually sit down and do it, I’d hit a dry spot. It wasn’t writer’s block, though; it was more like I was incredibly bored. What I pictured so vividly in my head just wasn’t coming out anywhere nearly so thrilling, and in the few instances that it did I still wasn’t particularly captivated by the process. I kept trying though, and I kept ending up with a bunch of barely started or, at best, half-finished manuscripts.

One day, somewhere around senior year, of high school, instead of an idea, I had just a line. It wasn’t a particularly good line. It was something like: Bill woke up to find death staring down at him and asking if they had any nachos. But I liked what the line made me think of, and I was bored in class, so instead of trying to plan out what that story might be I just went with it. The result was an awesome mess. But it was an “awesome” mess. It was full of great little moments, and a lot of threads that led nowhere. I couldn’t use the story for anything, but I felt invigorated the whole way through. In working on that story I finally figured out my problem. If I knew where the story was going, I didn’t care. I’d already thought that part out; I just wanted to move on to the next story. Somewhere in the transition from over-planning to not planning, I’d found my voice.

I started riffing on just a line, or a vague idea built around a specific image. But the trick was that I had to be able to hear at least the opening line in my head. I had to be able to hear the voice the character would use. As long as I could tap into that, then I could continue the story. The rest seems to take place beneath the surface.

It feels like there is some constantly running story machine cranking away somewhere in the basement of my mind, and while I’m busy doing other things, it’s making connections and drawing paths between two unplanned plot points. Those are the moments I love the most when I write, those moments where two bits that I wrote on a whim meet up and fit together so well that I can’t believe they weren’t planned. Writing this way makes it harder in the revision process, because I end up with a lot of gems I want to keep and can’t, and there’s also a lot of connections that still have to be made after the fact, but almost always less of them than I would expect. As long as I can tap into the sound of the story, the way the words flow and the beat of the thing, the machine keeps feeding me.

Off to See the Wizard

By HCNewton

On April 26, 2016

In Book Tour, Fiction

Welcome to Part One of our participation in the Off to See the Wizard Book Tour — we’ve got a couple of Guest Posts from the author, Clay Johnson, and a review coming up in a bit.

Let me tell you a little about the book (well, let me steal some text from the publisher to talk about the book)

TITLE: Off to See the Wizard
RELEASE DATE: March 20, 2016
AUTHOR: Clay Johnson
KEYWORDS: fantasy, mystery, magic, wizards, fairies, ogres, elves
CATEGORIES: Epic/High Fantasy/Adventure
SYNOPSIS: At the end of most heroic quests, after a plucky band of heroes has averted the apocalypse, all is well, and everyone lives happily ever after… (until the next book in the series.)

Now, for the first time, readers get an in depth look into what really happens after the quest. This is the collected case file of the Grand Inquisitor’s investigation into the Misery Reach debacle. Read first hand as the participants try to explain their actions and make their case. Did the Demon Lord Krevassius really try to end the world just to impress a girl? Would everyone be better off if the Wizard Galbraith hadn’t invented a quest in order to stave off criticism? And what about an elf queen peeing on a Minotaur? A swordsman’s losing battle with a young raccoon? And the transvestite assassin with a heart of gold?

ONE LINER: Classic tale: villain starts apocalypse to meet a girl, people blame wizard, wizard invents quest to save himself, quest goes wrong, world goes to hell.

PAGE COUNT: 373
ISBN: 978-0692638170
IMPRINT: Chimera

Book Page: http://ravenswoodpublishing.com/bookpages/offtoseethewizard.html

AUTHOR BIO: Clay Johnson received an MFA from an old man running a forged documents booth under the 8th street bridge. When he’s not out saving the world as an international super spy and master of kung fu, he makes graphics and animation for a TV station. Clay lives with his wife and daughter in New Hampshire.

Author Link: http://www.ravenswoodpublishing.com/authors4.html#

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

By HCNewton

On April 19, 2016

In Fantasy, Fiction, K-O, Seanan McGuire, Wayward Children

Every Heart a Doorway

by Seanan McGuire
Series: Wayward Children, #1

Hardcover, 169 pg.
Tor.com, 2016

Read: April 16, 2016

“. . . we went through. We came out on this moor that seemed to go on forever, between the mountains and the angry sea. And that sky! I’d never seen so many stars before, or such a red, red moon. The door slammed shut behind us. We couldn’t have gone back if we’d wanted to — and we didn’t want to. We were twelve. We are going to have an adventure if it killed us.”

“Did you? asked Nancy. “Have an adventure, I mean?”

“Sure,” said Jack bleakly. “It didn’t even kill us. Not permanently anyway. But it changed everything.”

One of my favorite book bloggers to read (and not just because our tastes are similar) began his take on Every Heart a Doorway by saying:

Sometimes we either meet a book (or a novella, in this case,) that is precisely the right fit for your soul, (at the moment,) or just happens to be original enough right when you need it, that it fills your life and your mind with brightness and joy.

For me, this is one of those pieces. To muddy the waters even more, I’m an unabashed fan of the author and I’m likely to pick up all of her writings without even checking the subject matter because I simply trust the woman to steer me to any shore.

If I didn’t start off by quoting that, I’d end paraphrasing/plagiarizing it.

So here’s the deal in a world where portal fantasies are possible, and children all over the world are going through them — à la Lucy Pevensie et al., Dorothy Gale, September, Quentin Coldwater, Alice, Jason Walker, etc. — and, sadly (?) most of these children end up back home. Some of them are glad to be back in this world and want to put their adventures behind them — a lot of them don’t want to be here anymore and want to return to wherever it was they went. Both kinds of children have a hard time coping in this world and need help. Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children is for the latter kind.

Nancy is a girl recently returned, and is very different than the girl her parents have been missing. They want her fixed, they want their daughter back — not whoever this person is with different attitudes, actions, clothes, etc. — West doesn’t promise that (but she may have allowed them to think she’ll do that, just so she can help Nancy), but she can help Nancy adjust to this world. So she joins the small student body at the private school/treatment center. The last thing Nancy wants is to be fixed, to be that girl again — which just means she fits in here, with returned kids from all over the country, who’ve been in all sorts of worlds. As Nancy begins to understand the nature of these other worlds, the effects they have on children, and why many of them want to leave again, so do we.

It turns out, all of the residents of West’s Home are going to learn that you can have plenty of adventures here, too. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

I really liked all of these children — the adults we met, too, actually — Jack in particular. But every one of them — even the less-than-nice ones — are great characters and I’d have gladly spent another 200 pages with them, easy.

The writing is incredible — not that I’ve ever had any real problems with McGuire before, but she kicked it up a notch here — and is writing a different kind of story than I’m used to, so she writes differently. This book took me longer to read than it should’ve, because I had to go back and reread several sentences/lines/paragraphs — not because I needed to read them again for clarification, but because they were so perfect, so quotable, so . . . something. I’m not going to start quoting beyond what I opened with, because I don’t know if I could stop — Laura got two of them I made notes about. You could literally be amused, melancholy, horrified, feeling whimsy, and nervous within a couple of paragraphs — only to turn the page and start all over again. Not because she was jerking you around or anything, it’s just that kind of story, that kind of playing with language, just that kind of broken reality.

McGuire gave us such a satisfying ending — complete, tidy, fitting, bittersweet, heartwarming — and then I read another paragraph or so, and it’s so much better (and all of the above to the next degree) once you got to the actual ending. Then I closed the book and I teared up a little — for no reason at all, really, but it felt really appropriate.

Can I say this is positively Gaiman-esque without making it sound like McGuire’s derivative in any way? I don’t want to even hint at suggesting that — but man, if you like Neil Gaiman’s stuff — get this. If you’ve ever read a portal fantasy and wondered what happened to the kids afterwards– get this. If you like things that are good, and don’t mind magic in your reading — get this.

—–

5 Stars