"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
This week's pick isSPELLCASTERby Claudia Gray. It's going to be published on March 5th, 2013 by HarperTeen.
Goodreads Summary:
When Nadia’s family moves to Captive’s Sound, she instantly realizes there’s more to it than meets the eye. Descended from witches, Nadia senses a dark and powerful magic at work in her new town. Mateo has lived in Captive’s Sound his entire life, trying to dodge the local legend that his family is cursed - and that curse will cause him to believe he’s seeing the future … until it drives him mad. When the strange dreams Mateo has been having of rescuing a beautiful girl—Nadia—from a car accident come true, he knows he’s doomed.
Despite the forces pulling them apart, Nadia and Mateo must work together to break the chains of his family’s terrible curse, and to prevent a disaster that threatens the lives of everyone around them. Shimmering with magic and mystery, New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray’s new novel is sure to draw fans of the Hex Hall and Caster Chronicles series, and fans of the hit CW TV show The Secret Circle.
Even though I own two of Claudia Gray's books I have yet to read any of them. But since I've only heard great things about her books and love the sound of Spellcaster, I really hope to get to read this one - especially since its release isn't that far away.
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer Series:Lunar Chronicles #2 Publisher: Puffin (Penguin UK) First published: February 7th, 2013 Source: Received from UK publisher Format: Paperback Pages: 424
Goodreads Summary: This is not the fairytale you remember. But it’s one you won’t forget.
Scarlet Benoit’s grandmother is missing. The police have closed her case. The only person Scarlet can turn to is Wolf, a street fighter she does not trust, but they are drawn to each other.
Meanwhile, in New Beijing, Cinder will become the Commonwealth’s most wanted fugitive – when she breaks out of prison to stay one step ahead of vicious Queen Levana.
As Scarlet and Wolf expose one mystery, they encounter Cinder and a new one unravels. Together they must challenge the evil queen, who will stop at nothing to make Prince Kai her husband, her king, her prisoner . . .
The following review might include spoilers for the first book.
After loving the first book, I couldn't wait for its sequel. And luckily my expectations were met. With lots of action and a wonderful world-builing, I'd recommend this series to everyone who is looking for something different and unique on the Young Adult market.
More detailed:
... the plot:
Still craving to know more about the Lunar Chronicles' mysteries after having read the first book, I was very excited to finally pick up Scarlet. To be honest, I was slightly scared as this seemed to be more like a companion novel since it introduces new narrators; but we still get to experience the world from Cinder and Kai's perspective a couple of times.
The things that are happening in this futuristic world are getting worse with almost every chapter and make it hard to put down this book. I was captivated by both, Cinder and Scarlet's stories and soon found myself crossing my fingers for both of them. The only thing that annoyed me sometimes was the change of perspective after chapters that had me dying to find out more - but in the end that's the charme of Scarlet and makes it even harder to put down.
... the characters:
Along with Kai and Cinder we get to meet some old characters again. Most of them aren't exactly the people I missed, but considering they play a crucial part in the storyI didn't expect anything else. I'm still hoping for this lovely couple to get their happy ending, but certain parts during Scarlet almost make me doubt that this could be possible.
Scarlet and Wolf are the two new narrators that are introduced, though we get to see more from Scarlet's point of view. Their love story is both, different and similar to Kai and Cinder's and already includes quite a few heart-breaking moments. Both of them are very likable characters, even though they didn't win me over as much as Kai and Cinder did. Of course we get to meet quite a few other new characters, too, who mostly play a smaller part. I love this variety of characters as it continues to surprise me.
... everything:
All in all, Scarlet is a wonderful second installment in this amazing series. These books definitely don't focus solely on romance, but incorporate many different elements to weave a story of heart-break and mysteries. Sometimes I honestly hoped for some more romantic moments, but I'm willing to wait - or rather hope - for these to make me happy in the third installment.
Have you read this series yet? What did you think about them so far?
If you haven't read any of the books yet, do you want to read them?
Welcome to Fictional Distractions of the Week. It is inspired by Book Journey's It's Monday! What are you reading? and Fiktshun's My Reading Pile and it will show you what I'm planning to read during the next week.
The books I plan to read this week:
Before I actually started reading Things I Can't Forget by Miranda Kenneally, I finished reading The Indigo Spell by Richelle Mead today, which means that this contemporary has a lot to live up to. I really enjoyed the previous two companion novels a lot, but am a little bit scared so far (I'm 10% into it right now) that it might be a tiny bit too religious for me.
Afterwards I'm hoping to read Gilt by Katherine Longshore which I've been wanting to read for the longest time. It's been sitting on my shelf for about one or two weeks and I'm finally going to get around to reading it. I definitely have to read a lot more historical novels and since I love the Tudor era, this is a very good opportunity to do so.
And maybe I'll even get around to start reading Wicked Kissby Michelle Rowen, which is the second book in the Nightwatchers series. I enjoyed the first installment surprisingly much and am therefore hoping to like this one just as much.
In late 20th century and early 21st century politics, what the public perceives visually - the "optics," in modern campaign-speak - is often as important, if not more important, as the actual words used.
It's said, for example, that people who heard the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debates on radio were convinced that Nixon had won, whereas the people who saw them on TV saw a pale, sweaty, nervous-looking Nixon losing badly to the cool, urbane Kennedy.
I thought of that event while watching the president's State of the Union address and the GOP response this past Tuesday. Thousands of words have already been written about the content of both speeches, but it's clear that it was President Obama who won the battle of the optics.
A lot of the president's message was positive: Six million new jobs. The auto industry in the best shape it's been in in years. Less foreign oil imports than in the last 20 years. Rebounding housing and stock markets. Manufacturers bringing jobs back to America from Japan, Mexico and China. Both parties working together to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion.
The president looked forward to and expressed hope for bipartisanship on things like immigration, joint business/government partnerships for research and development, and education. He looked as he usually does: calm, upbeat and confident, while Vice President Joe Biden beamed genially from behind him.
Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner sulked in his chair, looking like a man undergoing a painful and invasive medical procedure. He refused to join in standing ovations for veterans, school shooting victims, or even the 102-year-old woman who'd stood in line for seven hours to vote in Florida.
He looked less like a guy you'd want to have a beer with than the angry, bitter old man at the end of the bar who you'd want to stay away from unless you wanted to hear an hour of Scotch-fueled ranting about how terrible everything is, especially those damned kids.
Then came the GOP response, delivered by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Now, Rubio seems like a likable enough young man, but his speech was a visual disaster.
From the lighting that looked like something on public-access cable, to the sweat beading on Rubio's upper lip, to the terrible dry mouth from which he seemed to be suffering, the whole production was cringe-worthy. I used to work in a TV studio, and the whole mess made me wonder if the producer was an agent of the DNC.
Then came The Drink: the moment when Rubio looked around desperately for his water bottle, then ducked down nearly off screen to get it before gulping it loudly like a man who'd just staggered out of the desert.
And a joke was born. Within an hour, "Rubioing" - taking pictures of oneself drinking water or other liquids and posting them online - had become an instant fad. "Rubio's Water Bottle" suddenly had no fewer than 15 parody accounts on Twitter. Pictures proliferated of Rubio as The Most Interesting Man in the World from the Dos Equis commercials saying some variation on "Stay Thirsty, My Friends."
The message might have been able to overcome the visuals, had the response itself not been so pedestrian. It was standard Republican boilerplate, less a response to the actual State of the Union than a recitation of the familiar catch phrases and talking points that did so poorly in the last presidential election.
The "idea that our problems were caused by a government that was too small - it's just not true," Rubio intoned. It's also not what the president said. But then, Republicans are always more comfortable trying to refute points that were never made.
Really, though, why should something like The Drink get so much attention? The guy just wanted some water, right?
In a sane world, I'd agree. But we do not live in a sane world. We live in the age of the viral video and the Internet meme, an "optics"-driven environment where a politician who, like Rubio, is being touted as a potential presidential contender can't afford to look as awkward and amateurish as he did Tuesday night.
Can Rubio come back from it? Well, maybe. He did one very smart thing: join in the joke by posting his own water-bottle pictures on Twitter. And of course, Nixon won the presidency years later. But the difference is that Nixon's brand of paranoid conservatism had not yet come into its own in 1960, and wouldn't until after the upheavals of the '60s.
Nixon, sad to say, was ahead of his unhappy time. The demographics of a changing electorate have put Rubio and Boehner behind theirs. The best optics in the world can't change that.
"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.
This week's pick is THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US by Kasie West. It's going to be published on July 2nd, 2013 by HarperTeen.
Goodreads Summary:
Seventeen-year-old Caymen Meyers studies the rich like her own personal science experiment, and after years of observation she’s pretty sure they’re only good for one thing—spending money on useless stuff, like the porcelain dolls in her mother’s shop.
So when Xander Spence walks into the store to pick up a doll for his grandmother, it only takes one glance for Caymen to figure out he’s oozing rich. Despite his charming ways and that he’s one of the first people who actually gets her, she’s smart enough to know his interest won’t last. Because if there’s one thing she’s learned from her mother’s warnings, it’s that the rich have a short attention span. But Xander keeps coming around, despite her best efforts to scare him off. And much to her dismay, she's beginning to enjoy his company.
She knows her mom can’t find out—she wouldn’t approve. She’d much rather Caymen hang out with the local rocker who hasn’t been raised by money. But just when Xander’s attention and loyalty are about to convince Caymen that being rich isn’t a character flaw, she finds out that money is a much bigger part of their relationship than she’d ever realized. And that Xander’s not the only one she should’ve been worried about.
In the past weeks I've been reading many more contemporary novels than usually, so of course I fell in love with one for this week's Waiting on Wednesday. I just love the sound of this story and really hope it's as different from our usual contemporaries as it sounds.
A Witch Alone by Ruth Warburton Series:Winter #3 Publisher: Hodder Children's Books (Hachette UK) First published: February 7th, 2013 Source: Received from publisher Format: Paperback Pages: 422
Goodreads Summary: Where do you go when your heart has been ripped out?
For Anna there is only one answer; into her past, where the truth about her mother, her power, and her real identity lie hidden.
But as Anna delves deeper into her history, she begins to fear that the truth about what set her mother running may be darker than she ever suspected. With the witches of the world on the brink of war, Seth gone, and her friend Abe wanting more from her than she can possibly give, Anna is in crisis.
As the clouds around her gather, Anna is torn between friends, family and rival tribes of witches and – at the last – between love and magic.
This review might include spoilers for previous books of this series.
As the conclusion of a wonderful series, A Witch Alone has many moments that broke my heart. At the same time there happened many other things that could make me smile again, even though I was constantly hoping for a happy ending, which I could never expect at any moment during the story. If you were hoping for an exciting last installment, don't hesitate to finish reading this amazing series.
More detailed:
... the plot:
I was already dying to get my hands on a copy of A Witch Alone after the ending of the second book. Therefore I couldn't wait long to read it once I finally had it and am very happy I did so. There happened so many things that I definitely didn't expect. Twists and turns had me guessing and I'm sure I'm not the only one. While I'm still not completely sure what to feel about the ending, which lacked a certain spark in comparison with the rest of the book, I'm still happy with the conclusion of this series and would love to re-read it one day.
... the characters:
Oh Anna, selfless little Anna. My heart definitely broke for her more than once while reading A Witch Alone. But sometimes I wanted to shout at her nonetheless to try to make her see that accepting help can be the better solution. Not wanting to endanger the people she loves, she ends up in situations that aren't better than the ones she feared and has to realize that she can't do everything on her own.
Still, my favorite character of this series is Abe. I fell in love with him during the first book and loved every scene with him ever since. He sometimes reminds me a tiny bit like a rougher version of Adrian (Vampire Academy / Bloodlines), which would definitely explain why I like him so much. His love for his friends is unconditional even though I didn't like some of his reactions toward the end.
Of course I cannot forget to mention Seth, who is the origin of many painful moments, which I'm happy about though. A love story like Anna and Seth's can never be easy and I'm very satisfied with Ruth's approach throughout the books. Both of them make many mistakes, but that's what makes them so wonderfully realistic.
... everything:
All in all, A Witch Alone is an amazing and satisfying last installment, even though I still would have preferred a more exciting ending scene. I loved reading this series and can't wait for Ruth Warburton to write more books for me to read. If you want to delve into a world of magic and mysteries, I'm sure you'll enjoy this series!
Have you read this series? If yes, what did you think about it?
One of my favorite movies in the so-bad-it's-awesome genre is director John Milius' 1984 right-wing paranoid fever dream "Red Dawn."
This American cinematic masterpiece tells the story of a group of teenagers who take to the hills and engage in an insurgency against an invading Soviet/Cuban force that, for some reason, begins the conquest of the United States by attacking a high school in the hinterlands of Colorado.
Naming themselves the "Wolverines" after their local sports mascot, the plucky teens (played by, among others, Patrick Swayze and a pre-insanity Charlie Sheen) disrupt and sabotage the occupation, all while maintaining their perfect '80s hair.
It was a fun movie, largely because it was so completely absurd, sort of like Milius' other '80s masterpiece, "Conan the Barbarian."
Sadly, however, a lot of America's current gun debate seems to be driven by people who think this movie is some sort of manual for political action. We need to have high-powered military-style weapons, they assert, in case we have to take to the hills and go full Wolverine, this time against our own government.
Their poster child is James Yeager, the fellow from Tennessee who declared on YouTube that he was going to get his gun, fill his backpack with food, and "start killing people" over executive orders that no one had even read yet.
You know, I remember when even mildly criticizing the President Who Must Not Be Named in a newspaper column was enough to draw angry letters and emails accusing me of treason. It was, after all, a time of war. Now, a few years later, we're still supposed to be at war, but these Wannabe Wolverines talk openly about needing assault weapons and lots o' bullets to commit actual treason because they're mad at Barack Obama for - well, they're just mad at Barack Obama.
As we've seen from the example of Mr. Yeager above, the president doesn't really have to have done anything to excite their rage. I'm not sure what the Wannabe Wolverines think they're going to do, even with the most tricked-out AR-15, against an Army that can field attack helicopters, artillery, bombers, drones, tanks, etc.
If you really follow their "logic," then the right to bear arms would also include the right to anti-tank weapons, land mines, shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles, etc. But, you know, that would be crazy.
So let's leave aside teenage-movie fantasies about taking on The Man with the AR-15 in your gun safe. Let's recall Justice Scalia's statement in the landmark D.C. v. Heller case that "the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose" and approving of the "historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons." So why not a blanket ban on assault weapons?
Well, the last time we tried to do that, it didn't work too well, largely because they tried to define "assault weapon" using the same criteria the medieval peasants in the movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" used to ID a witch: "It looks like one!"
Many of the characteristics that defined a banned weapon were cosmetic: folding stocks, pistol grips, barrel shrouds and the like. Manufacturers found it childishly easy to circumvent the law by making minor changes and giving the banned weapon a new model number. They didn't address the core characteristic that made people want to ban assault weapons, then and now: the ability to mow down lots of people, very fast, without reloading.
I've said before that the problem of gun violence in this country can be summed up as "too many guns in the hands of too many crazy people." Upon reflection, I'd amend that to "too many guns able to throw too many bullets in the hands of too many crazy people."
To solve this problem, we need a solution that addresses all of those. That means better mental health services, better background checks, and - yes - some limitation on the availability of high-power, high-capacity weapons.
While polls show that a simple "assault weapons" ban sounds good to a majority of Americans, to just slap on a ban and walk away thinking the problem's solved would be as simple-minded as the fantasies of the Wannabe Wolverines. In the words of another great film, it's not our job to be as confused as they are.
All kidding and all film references aside, life is not like the movies. Complicated problems require multifaceted solutions, and we need to start considering all our options and not let the entire conversation being about one kind of weapon.
The Culture War is over. The Republicans lost. Hey, don't take my word for it. I found out when I read about an interview given last week by one Dave Kochel, a former adviser to the campaign of a guy named Mitt Romney. (Remember Mitt Romney? I hear he ran for President once.)
Kochel gave an interview on a TV station in his home state of Iowa, in which he mentioned, as many others have, the "demographic shift" in the country and how younger voters want to move away from "the arguments we've been having" on the culture wars, which "the Republicans largely lost."
He described a growing number of Republicans, including former RNC Chairman and George W. Bush adviser Ken Mehlman, who are openly advocating marriage equality for gays and lesbians. Kochel also mentioned that for his children's generation, issues such as abortion and birth control are "largely settled," and not in a way that would make Rick Santorum happy.
He wound up by observing that he hears "a lot of conversation off the record, people talking about how they'd like to move on past some of these old fights we've been having, and can't talk about it."
It should be remembered that Kochel, according to his company's website, is the guy who advised Lord Mitt, the Earl of Romney, in "Iowa, Colorado, Nevada, and nationally" - all arenas in which His Lordship lost.
But don't take just his word for it either. The Boy Scouts of America abruptly announced that they're reconsidering their ban on gay members and leaders; the Defense Department finally lifted the ban on women in combat; and right wing poster girl and Culture Warrior Queen Sarah Palin got ignominiously dropped by Faux News.
Oh, and Jim Nabors, Mayberry's very own Gomer Pyle, married his male partner after 38 years.
On other fronts as well, the storm troops of the far right have begun to abandon the redoubts they once vowed to defend.
Republican and Democratic leaders got together on an immigration reform proposal that included a "path to citizenship" for the undocumented, something that was once as unthinkable to a right wing Culture Warrior as surrender would have been to a World War II-era Japanese soldier.
The House, as noted last week, passed a bill raising the debt ceiling without the spending cuts the Teahadists once claimed were the hill they'd chosen to die on (and take the U.S. economy with them) rather than surrender. Across this great land of ours, there are signs that we may be seeing The Twilight of the Wingnuts.
Now, I don't expect the most fanatical Culture Warriors to throw down their arms and greet the victors with flowers. It would take a complete chump to believe a war would end like that. I expect that there'll be some diehards and dead-enders who'll take to the hills in a sort of insurgency.
They'll probably engage in a few acts of political hostage-taking and terrorism by threatening to blow things up if they don't get their way. Metaphorically speaking, of course. At least I hope so.
And I know that for the next few years, we'll be finding islands with holdouts who refuse to admit that the war is over. In fact, I suspect we may be living on one such island right now here in North Carolina.
But demographics are inexorable. In 1992, Pat Buchanan rose from the ashes of his own defeated presidential campaign and declared the Culture War - in a speech, it should be noted, that helped move me from a moderate seriously considering voting for Bush the Elder into a confirmed Clinton liberal. But Buchanan is 74 now and finding it harder to find a network who'll let him on.
His sister Bay, also once an ubiquitous right wing pundit, has reportedly given up the fight and gotten her real estate license.
Most of the formerly reliable foot soldiers of the Culture War are getting pretty long in the tooth. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who's only crazy about 85 percent of the time, called it while in a lucid interval: "We're not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business over the long term."
So the signs give me hope that the Teahadists of the Rabid Right will continue their long decline, their Wingnutdammerung, if you will, and the Republican Party can free itself from their tyranny. Then maybe we can start having some rational debates over issues in this country.
There won't be as much material for mockery, but it's a small price to pay.
New Distractions is a weekly feature on Fictional Distraction, inspired by various memes that make us share the new books we got during a week, e.g. In My Mailbox by The Story Siren, This Week in Books by Pop Culture Junkie and Stacking the Shelves by Tynga's Reviews.
Huge thanks to Hachette Children's Books UK and Simon & Schuster UK.
I definitely freaked out a little bit this week with these awesome books arriving in my mailbox. I've been super excited to read all three of these and am actually already reading A Witch Alone. The only hard thing to do will be to put off reading Fractured until the end of March, so I can publish its review closer to its release date. Not sure if I'll be able to wait so long.
