Book Review-The Glass Republic by Tom Pollock

Title: The Glass Republic

 Author:  Tom Pollock

Series:   Skyscraper Throne #2

Published: August 2013 by Jo Fletcher 

Length: 464 pages

Source: publishing

Other info: The City's Son, book one, is awesome. Book three should come some day. 

Summary :  Pen’s life is all about secrets: the secret of the city’s spirits, deities and monsters her best friend Beth discovered, living just beyond the notice of modern Londoners; the secret of how she got the intricate scars that disfigure her so cruelly – and the most closely guarded secret of all: Parva, her mirror-sister, forged from her reflections in a school bathroom mirror. Pen’s reflected twin is the only girl who really understands her.

Then Parva is abducted and Pen makes a terrible bargain for the means to track her down. In London-Under-Glass looks are currency, and Pen’s scars make her a rare and valuable commodity. But some in the reflected city will do anything to keep Pen from the secret of what happened to the sister who shared her face.

Review: After the events of The City's Son, Pen has been left with scars over  face, and with Parva, her  sister of a kind-a double in London Under-Glass, the reflection of the city  found in the mirrors. Pen's been trying to get back to normalcy, but one day, Parva isn't in the mirror. What is in the mirror is blood. After making a deal with the Chemical Synod, Pen travels through London Under-Glass, passing as

her mirror sister, a countess and the Face of the Looking Glass Lottery,  and gets pulled into the world where people are stripped of their faces, where people go missing, and a group called the Faceless are on the streets.

I finished The City's Son and knew I had to read this as soon as I could. Because reasons.

Pen is an awesome character. I liked her in The City's Son, and I'm really glad we get a whole book for her.  She could choose to carry on with her life of relative normalcy, but instead goes back. She then pays a huge price for passage to London Under-Glass, adapts quickly, and is clever and quick in certain situations. Espel, the girl who Pen saves and puts on staff, is a whole load of surprises, especially around the 200 page mark. The  romance is nice.  There's repeat appearances from Beth and the Chemical Synod and some other familiar faces from The City's Son. It kept things going and set up for book 3, but I like that the main focus is Pen in London Under-Glass.

I know Tom has received a few very ignorant comments from people. Pen is Muslim,  and it's a sad thing that there isn't more Muslim main characters  in literature in general  (or any religion that isn't Christian/fantasy religion-says a lot about diversity). 

I really like the comments on beauty in society. In this world, Pen is attacked violently for not telling how she got her scars (people from her school burn her headscarf), and she acknowledges that she isn't the most desirable due to them. In London Under-Glass, asymmetry (in a world where the standard is being only one half of you is actually you, the other half is a symmetrical copy) is desirable, valuable, and Pen is loved for them. Also,  props to the US team who showed Pen's scars on the cover.  Ok, that last paragraph wasn't particularly on topic about how The Glass Republic comments on beauty in society. But it did, subtly. Just read it.

Once again, it is wonderfully unique. London Under-Glass has a different flavour to our fantasy filled London. There's a bit of possible squick with the people without faces and with the excitations, but it's morbidly fascinating to imagine.

Guys. Guys. Guys. The ending. And the title for book 3. I CANNOT WAIT PLEASE TIME TRAVEL BE INVENTED BOOK THREE NEEDS TO COME NOW.

On a final note, I want a sewermander. Dragon that manipulates gas. Made of fire. Oscar is awesome.

Overall:  Strength 4.5, very slightly more a 4, to a great continuation to a unique series.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |

Guest Post-Tom Pollock on Cities

 Today, we have Tom Pollock talking about his inspiration for the London and the use of cities of The City's Son.

When you think about it, cities and language have a lot in common. They’re both vast, sprawling artefacts, put together over centuries by the conscious and unconscious collaboration and conflict of thousands of people. They’re both always evolving - carrying the markers of the culture that created them, its climate and its commerce, its aspirations and its fears. They are humanity’s most ancient technologies.

If cities are like languages, then urban fantasy cities are half-encrypted texts, promising revealed secrets with every corner turned.  The world of the The Skyscraper Throne  is one where decoding the street lamps reveals the glass skinned, tungsten-veined dancers who light them, and where when your train stops on the track for no apparent reason it’s because the Railwraith – the train’s mad spirit -- has slipped the chains of its engine and is stampeding around causing havoc. Epic fantasies, very often are stories of the distant and the renowned – an easy to underestimate underdog treks across a vast world for a showdown that will be immortalized in song. Urban fantasy is opposite of that. The soul of urban fantasy is the secret and the local. These are stories that know where you live.

Cities are crammed with invitations to make things up. They contain such a concentration of people that sooner or later the collisions between their lives will strike sparks that leads to stories. They’re so complex that no one person can fully understand even a tenth of the detail about how they work. In turn, they contain so many mundane mysteries that we can speculate to explain: where did that cul-de-sac originally lead to? What lives on top of those towers, out of sight, looking down on us? And how did Red Serpent Street get its name? Urban fantasy speaks to our inner conspiracy-nut.  The core of it is a simple, and very appealing idea:

It was all around you this whole time, and you had no idea. Look a little closer and you’ll see.

Let me slip from simile to metaphor. Cities are built languages. The older and thornier and messier and more complicated they are the more stories are inscribed in the curves and winds of their streets. And so we come at last to London.

London’s been a major port, immigration hub and capital for two thousand years. It was never built to a plan, no one architect ever forced it into the image of her mind. It’s a squabble, a fight a raucous, laughing conversation, a challenge, a prayer and a dirty joke, all in a tongue you walk and live in rather than speak.  It’s one of the greatest treasure houses of this kind of story you could ever imagine.

Sorry it took so long to bring this to you! The City's Son and its sequel The Glass Republic are both excellent urban fantasy books, made even better if you have an undying love for London. 

Find Tom at his website, twitter and  blog 

News! With Fairy Tale Mugshots!

News time!

• Stephen King readathon starts tomorrow! Thank you Amber, Tatum, Sadaf and anonymous for joining me. Anyone else?
• Divergent, Insurgent and Allegient have new covers! Designed by Nik Keevil, I like them-the use of elements, and the use of the faction symbols. I just wish they hadn't randomly changed them mid series! I don't collect book series very often, but random changes annoy me a lot.
  
  
  
  
• Thank you Sam Eades for the copy of Rags and Bones, the anthology edited by Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt. I hadn't heard of it, but it looks really good-some great authors are in on it!  Goodreads link here
  
• There's a really good book on sexuality and gender in nature, and you can read it online. You should.
• I'm doing a year long project research thing that I get to choose the topic on and I'm going to be doing "Does YA challenge or reinforce gender stereotypes?" I'll be asking for input at some point, so keep an eye out.
• Daisy Chain Book Reviews has a really good post about "is book blogging going out of fashion?" Worth a read. 
• Are you going to the Hot Key Books thing next week? If so, are there any books you'd like? (I'm catching up on review writing so books will appear there over the next week or so-keep checking back!)
• I finished Rainbow Reads! That was a giant thing that so many people contributed to so thank you very much everyone! Regular scheduling and frantic catchup of review posting to happen over the next few weeks!
• I will be doing Nanowrimo! I'm deathbooksandteanina. Add me. Good luck!

Awesomeness of the week

Fairytale mugshots by Teelamb.

Red Riding Hood: Link  Goldilocks: Link Snow White: Link Alice: Link

 

Book Review-Transparent by Natalie Whipple

Title: Transparent

 Author: Natalie Whipple

Series:  N/A

Published:  16 May 2013 by Hot Key Books

Length: 352 pages

Source: publisher

Summary : High school is hard when you're invisible.
Fiona McClean hates her family, has had to move to a new school and seems to be completely invisible to the boy she likes. So far so normal, right? But Fiona really is invisible. She doesn't even know what colour her own hair is.
Born into a world where Cold War anti-radiation pills have caused genetic mutations, Fiona is forced to work for her mind-controlling mobster father as the world's most effective thief. When her father announces she must become a murdering assassin, Fiona and her telekinetic mother make a break for freedom. Running to a small Arizonian town, Fiona finds that playing at 'normal life' with a mother on the edge, a brother she can't trust, and a boy who drives her crazy is as impossible as escaping her father.

Review:Fiona has never seen herself. This is because in this world, people are born with differing abilities and Fiona’s is that she is invisible. Her father, a crime lord, orders her to use this for his own means, having her spy on people and steal things and such. One day, they decide they have had enough. Fiona  and her mother move to a small town, and for the first time ever, she goes to school. But then she gets sent to a tutor, a boy called Seth, whose mutation allows him to do something no-one else can. Hiding from her father on someone else’s turf, Fiona discovers how useful it is to be invisible.

 I first saw this on someone’s Waiting on Wednesday with the US cover which made it seem very urban, very contemporary and such. I then went to the Hot Key Books thing and the UK cover makes it seem so different, almost childish. In the end, I’d have covered it with a slight mixture of the two.

The idea of an invisible girl is very intriguing. It’s definitely original and I was excited to see what way it would be taken. It starts off quite quickly, and you easily get to understand the way Fiona’s life had worked for ages.

Fiona does what she can, after being used so much. She does make quick judgements about people, which can be quite wrong. My favourite character was Bea, the friend, who’s really really nice. The  broken family dynamic is clear, with Fiona and her mum sticking together and Fiona and her brother using random one time emails to communicate, while her other brother and her father are out to get them.

The world building is infodumped, explaining how the mutations came about fairly early on, and we get to know Fiona’s situation quite quickly too. I think it would be quite nice to have some more info about how the Radiasure pills did what they did.

The romance switches randomly. Seth’s a good match for Fiona and this is made clearer when he reveals his mutation.

The best  thing about the book is the opening, when you’re looking forwards to the world building and the learning about everything.

Overall: Strength 3 to a book that’s a little childish and annoying in places, totally different to what was promised, and a bit disappointing.

Links: Amazon | Goodreads | Author website |

Rainbow Reads-WRAPUP

FINALLY RAINBOW READS EVENT IS AT AN END. This event was meant to take three weeks, possibly four maximum. But thanks to so many people providing such great content, so much great content (I got 9300 words of response!!) and my lack of organisation and time for bloggy things in among other things, this was a success!

I leave you with further reading suggested by other people, other internetty things that may take your interest, and a giant list of links of everyone who made this possible.

Books!

·         A Melody in Harmony by Ashley Chunell   Goodreads Amazon

·         Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan  Goodreads   Amazon  My review

·         The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan  Goodreads  Amazon

·         Hollow Pike by James Dawson   Goodreads  Amazon  My review

·         Cruel Summer by James Dawson   Goodreads   Amazon   My review

·         Almost everything by David Leviathan   Goodreads  Amazon

·         The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky  Goodreads Amazon

·         Ash  by Malinda Lo   Goodreads Amazon My review

·         The Mortal Instruments verse by Cassandra Clare  Goodreads  Amazon

·         Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg.   Goodreads  Amazon

·         Love in Revolution by B.R. Collins  Goodreads   Amazon

·         Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan  Goodreads   Amazon   My review

·         CODA by Emma Trevayne  Goodreads  Amazon

·         Pretty Things by Sarra Manning Goodreads  Amazon

·         Adapation by Malinda Lo  Goodreads  Amazon

·         I Am J by Cris Beam Goodreads  Amazon  My review

·         Quicksilver by R.J. Anderson  Goodreads  Amazon

·         Pantomime by Laura Lam  Goodreads   Amazon  My review

·         Annabel by Kathleen Winter   Goodreads  Amazon  

·         A + E 4ever by Ilike Merey   Goodreads  Amazon  

·         Railsea by China Mieville  Goodreads  Amazon  

People!

·          Zoe Marriott

·         Suzanne van Rooyen

·          Ria

·          LH

·         Alfie

·          Rie

·          Ashley Chunnell

·          Sean Cummings

·          Caitlin from The Cait Files

·          Megan aka The Book Addicted Girl

·         Charlie Morris

·         Illjolras

·          Harriet Flight

·          M from We Sat Down

·         Katy

·         Lisa of Over The Effing Rainbow

·         Laura Lam

·         James Dawson

·         Daniel Kaine

·         Leo of Jet Black Ink

·         Cassandra Rose Clarke

·         Shira Glassman  

·         Riley from Reading Books in Bed

·         Chelsea Pitcher

Other Things!

Malinda Lo’s Pride Month. She does all these infographics with numbers which I think are amazing because I don’t have the patience to sit and sort through all of that.

Caroline’s LGBT teen novel week, the thing that made me do this because I thought it had been some time since a blog celebration of queer fiction...then three happen at once :)

GayYA.org Been quiet for a few months, but some excellent posts from various people.

Diversity in YA covers all sorts of diversity, and I really love this website.

Once again, huge thanks to everyone who made Rainbow Reads. 

Q&A-Queer Representation Over Time

Final discussion post! We're going to have a look at LGBTQIA representation in literature over time. With contributions from Zoe Marriott, Suzanne van Rooyen, Ria, LH, Alfie, Rie, Ashley Chunnell, Sean Cummings, Caitlin from The Cait Files, Megan aka The Book Addicted Girl, Charlie Morris, Illjolras, Harriet Flight, M from We Sat Down.

How do you LGBTQIA representation has changed in teen fiction over the years?

Suzanne: Tough question. I think it's moving away from LGBTQIA being a problem, a phase and something to fix towards sexual identity simply being a part of who the person is and something to celebrate. As legislation changes, I hope that teen LGBTQIA fiction evolves as well to show that teens do have a free and fair future to look forward to where they can marry whomever they choose and have the same rights and privileges as straight individuals.

Harriet: Undoubtedly. We learn that there are Absolute Truths and Evolving Truths. The representation of LGBTQIA is bound to change when the times change. In 19th century England, you will not see any books with LGBTQIA people in them, because of their beliefs about the subject. However, now that it's 2013, more appearances of LGBTQIA people have conjured. This is because what we believe to be right or wrong changes when the times change, when we get older, when we start to understand.
Any representation is and evolving truth, because it evolves with our understanding."

Charlie: I think there is slowly getting more of it, which is great, and they've become more sympathetic.

Charlie M: A lot more genre fiction is emerging outside of the contemporary Bildungsroman, so authors like David Levithan, Malinda Lo and James Dawson are getting more of a mass audience for their inclusive fiction.

Megan: It's more accepting now - more varied and less stereotypical.  Or so I think...

Caitlin: I'd like to think it's gotten bigger? But I read quite a few LGBT books when I was a teen myself (Boy Meets Boy, The Bermudez Triangle, Pretty Things) and I read them less so now. I couldn't tell you if that's because there are less of them, because I just read less of them somehow or what.

M: More prevalent and subsidiary characters moving into mainstream lit (e.g. David Levithan).

Alfie: It's improved to shift the balance slightly away from pure straight fiction, however there is still a lot to be written to realign the balance between sexualities in the fiction world and the real world.

LH: To generalise massively, I think it's maybe got more overt?

Ria: It exists now, for one thing. Problem is that the vast majority of LGBTQIA fiction focuses around a character coming to grips with their sexuality or gender identity as the main driving force in the plot, and while that in itself isn't a bad thing (teens need to know that they're not alone in what they go through and that there are people and characters who do experience that same struggle), it's a lot more rare to find a character who's out, okay with it, and who has been okay with it for a long time. This gives the impression that LGBTQIA folk pretty much live for that identity, and that identity completely defines them. It's a step up from what it used to be, but there's still some work to be done.

Is there any specific way you’d like to see LGBTQIA represented in the future?

Suzanne: Absolutely! I'd like to see them represented authentically - if the guy's a jerk, he's a jerk even if he's gay. Being LGBTQIA should feel as natural as hair colour and should not be forced into the story for the sake of it. Authors also need to step out of their hetero-normative moulds - two guys in a relationship are two guys, there is no husband role or wife role that one or the other fulfils.

I'd like to see more bisexual male heroes and more trans characters take leading, butt-kicking roles in genre fiction. I'd love to read a teen Supernatural type story where the Winchester roles are filled by an LGBTQIA sibling pair or romantic couple."

Harriet: For a more diverse range, yes. Let's mix up the relationships!

Illjolras: I'd like there to be more diversity, not just gay white cispeople.

Charlie : I'd love to see more LGBTQIA characters get their happy endings. Enough almosts, enough tragedy. Give me a sunset moment please. If heterosexual people are allowed to pin their hopes and dreams own something not entirely 'realistic' why can't I?

Megan: "Yes, I think so.  I think that there should be more paranormals where the lead character is a lesbian.  Don't ask why, I just really think there should be...
Also, less stereotypes - more varying characters.  More characters covering all the letters.  And overall just more LGBTQIA people in YA lit."

Caitlin: Yes yes yes. I quite like them to just be in there casually, like, that's just part of who they are? I'd like to see more main characters who are LGBTQIA

Leit: Yes and they shouldn't be treated just as “the gay best friend".

M: Just as an ordinary character.

Sean: Yes and as ass kicking evil slamming heroes with supernatural powers.

Alfie: Realistically.  'Nuff said.

Ria: Yes, absolutely. As to how I want them to be presented, well, I want them to be presented as real people, with all the strengths and weaknesses and good and bad moments that everyone has.

Mini-Interview- Asexuality in Fiction with Katy

An asexual person is a person who does not experience sexual attraction- Aven  

Most surveys say that 1% of the population is asex

ual. So how come that 1% doesn’t get represented? I can think of two YA books with confirmed asexual characters, and that is only because I found them in an AVEN thread. I talk to KATY about this.

How do you feel about asexual representation in YA?

I feel that asexuals aren’t really represented much. Most of the characters that seem asexual are never confirmed. I guess that’s because it’s slightly harder to work out if someone is asexual or not without the author explicitly stating it.

Do you think there should be more asexual characters?

Well... yes and no.  I don’t want characters to be made asexual for the sake of it, but at the same time, it would increase visibility, which would be good.

Are some possibly asexual  characters subject to erasure?

No, I think it’s more like people don’t know about asexuality, so they don’t include asexual characters.

Have you read any books containing asexual charcters?

Like I said/wrote earlier, asexualty doesn’t tend to get confirmed, so no. I know there are some books out there, but I haven’t got round to reading them yet. It’s so difficult to tell whether or not a character is asexual or not because sexual attraction is different to romantic attraction, and aesthetic  attraction. The general advice when deciding sexuality is to work it out for yourself because no one knows exactly how you feel. Unfortunately, characters aren’t real XD!

Do you think writers ever try and write for the asexual market?

Yes, but I think that those authors are asexual themselves. Every so often, I hear about books written by asexual authors for the asexual market, but most are in the adult genre. But asexual enjoy reading normal books, just like everyone else. 

Lisa's Open Love Letter to Pantomime by Laura Lam

Today, yet another set of reasons why you should be reading Pantomime by Laura Lam, this time, put forwards by Lisa of Over the Effing Rainbow.

Bookworms! I discovered something bloody amazing recently.

If you've heard these, or similar words from a fellow book geek, then you probably know the wonderful sense of excitement they're feeling, that goes along with the exclamation. If not, then I hope you experience it for yourself, and soon, because I love that feeling as much as I love being able to say that about a book. I've been saying nothing else about this one, since I finished it. But let's backtrack a little bit...

When I heard that Nina was looking for contributions to Rainbow Reads, I got curious enough to put my hand up and volunteer a guest review. Then came the puzzle over what to actually pick up and read, because however curious I was about the LGBT subject matter that is the theme of this event, I am most assuredly a bit of a newbie when it comes to actually reading relevant fantasy books...

So, when I conferred with Nina and she suggested I read Pantomime, which I had at least heard of by then, I thought 'okay, why not?'

That 'okay, why not' quickly became 'dear deity, what took me so long?!'.

I bet you know that feeling too.

Now here is where I ought to note that there will be potential spoilers ahead, though I will try my best not to give too much of the plot itself away. You are warned!

Pantomime is the story of Micah Grey, whose real name is not Micah Grey – but this aspect of his issue with identity is just the tip of the iceberg. We meet Micah as he joins a travelling circus, and from the outset it's clear that Micah is on the run from something – or someone. The first half of the book leads us down the twisty path of discovery, from the prominent events that led to Micah's abandonment of home and family, into the disturbing truth of why he ran away.

Micah Grey was born Iphigenia Laurus, and Iphigenia's parents wish for nothing but to have a real daughter. They want this so badly that they will do just about anything to turn 'Micah' into the child that they want, instead of learning to accept the child that they have. It is when Iphigenia (who tries and generally fails to insist upon being called Gene) learns just how far they intend to go in this endeavour, that she sheds the identity they've spent her whole life forcing upon her and runs away from home.

However, while joining the circus offers Micah much more freedom in terms of lifestyle choice, there is still that secret, and thanks to Gene's parents Micah is, for much of the book, too afraid to confess it to anyone – even when romance comes calling. And the problems of home haven't been left entirely behind, either. Gene's parents have set investigators on her trail with the task of bringing their child home...

The general plot (and plot-related events) in this book are largely straightforward fare. The plot twists, once reached, were less of a surprise to me than I had hoped after devouring the story until that point. Where it excels, instead, is in the drawing of Micah as a main character. There is some delightful worldbuilding and a few neat little teasers for the story's continuation in the second book (due out in January, I believe) planted along the way, as well as laid out in the book's final scenes, but despite my admitted love of such worldbuilding details I found myself ranking them second to the star player, here. Micah's story is such a unique one to me, and so smartly written by the author, that it kept me glued to the page from start to finish.

I had my reservations at first, I will confess. The last thing I wanted to find when I read this was the issue of Micah's gender identity being treated as a token plot point, or 'character quirk' – something that was tacked on for the sake of tacking it on and getting attention, yet failing to make the most of it. Thankfully, Laura Lam does the smart thing – not to mention the brave thing, as this is the first such book I've read and enjoyed so thoroughly where this has been the case – and makes this not a story about adventure with some 'scandalous' romance thrown in, but a story about her lead character's personal journey, their self-discovery and the places that their personal development might take them. It's a smart move that I long to see more of, and thankfully for the (admittedly few) forays I've begun making into YA fantasy fiction, this is much more the norm, or at least becoming it, than it was when I was reading fantasy fifteen years ago.

It's a big, wide, diverse and often scary world we live in, and teenagers have more invested in dealing with it than I think grown adults do. This is going to be their world soon enough, after all, and the times when we buttoned up these issues and kept them out of sight is (or should be) very, very over. That is why I want to see more books like this one, and it's why I'll be in the line to buy the follow-up. This is just plain excellent work, and beautifully written to boot.

Pantomime can be found on : Amazon and Goodreads. 
Lisa can be found at her blog, Over the Effing Rainbow, on twitter, tumblr and goodreads.