Rose Daughter

McKinley, Robin. 1997. Rose Daughter.

Her earliest memory was of waking from the dream. It was also her only clear memory of her mother.

Rose Daughter is Robin McKinley's retelling of her retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Under no circumstances confuse it with her first retelling of Beauty and the Beast; the one simply titled Beauty. I read Beauty a few years ago back in my pre-blogging days. I remember being charmed with it. It was a beautiful story, a beautiful retelling. Though there is an author's note explaining why the author felt the need to go back and tell this tale twice, part of me (okay, all of me) wishes that she hadn't. Beauty is everything Rose Daughter isn't. It's magical. It's beautiful. It works. Rose Daughter is boring, boring, very boring.

What has changed between the two books? Well, an emphasis on gardening and on roses specifically. All this Beauty ever does is garden, garden, talk about gardening, talk about pruning, and get excited about blooms or get frustrated when there are no blooms. There is also an emphasis on cats. Cats, cats, everywhere. This Beauty seems to have a way of entrancing cats and other animals like bats and spiders and hedgehogs. It's just very odd. Odd for a book to have a chapter on her finding a bat and giving it a place to live and talking about bat poop. A lot about bat poop. More than I wanted to know.

Everything that was beautiful and touching and magical about the first book, the first Beauty, is gone and replaced by hundreds of pages of her pruning and talking about fertilizer and making new cuttings.

I suppose there may very well be garden enthusiasts out there who can't get enough of fictional heroines working in the dirt and making pretty flowers bloom. But I'm so not one of them. The book was dreadfully dull. The small details that made me fall in love with Beauty and the Beast were just not here in Rose Daughter.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Keturah and Lord Death

Leavitt, Martine. 2006. Keturah and Lord Death.

I've got to admit right up front that I was intrigued by the opening to Keturah and Lord Death: "I was sixteen years old the day I was lost in the forest, sixteen the day I met my death." Our heroine is Keturah Reeve. This is her story, her tale. It reads like a fairy tale. It does. And it's got a certain atmospheric charm and quality to it. I think that it will appeal to some more than others. Or perhaps I should say that it will satisfy some more than others. It had me reading; it kept me hooked. But, for me, this wasn't the ending that I wanted or needed. Perhaps most readers would disagree with me there though.

Keturah has spent her whole life--all sixteen years--dreaming of her true love. Waiting to find her true love, waiting to settle down, waiting to keep house, waiting to have babies of her own to love and tend to. Waiting for THE ONE. When she wanders into the forest, the woods, her hopes seem all but dashed. She becomes lost. She's lost for three days. Without food, without water. She's on the brink of death. And death does come for her. Death, Lord Death, is handsome enough. And she makes a heartfelt appeal. She tells him her heart's desire, she tells him stories, gives him promises. She in fact bargains with Death. He grants her request.

He does not take her then. He gives her a chance. A day. A day to find her true love. A day to be wed to that love. If she succeeds, then he'll not claim her. She'll be safe this time at least from his clutches.

I won't go on beyond this point. But the stories and tales she weaves as she bargains with Lord Death captivate not only him but the reader as well. Can her words save her? Does she even want to be saved?

Some call this a romance. I don't feel comfortable with that label.

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I hope that you're not reading this if you have plans of reading it yourself. Though some might think it predictable enough that the spoiler is silly. Anyway, this is your last chance.

Okay. I disliked her choice. While death in itself is neither absolutely good or absolutely evil. The fact that this young girl thinking herself madly and passionately in love with Death would choose to die and be Death's companion and wife when she could have had a life, a love of her own, her every dream realized is silly. Why choose an early death? Why choose Death over John? Why? This baffles me. And it is this reasoning that makes me be on Team Jacob instead of Team Edward. (For those not in the know this is a Stephenie Meyer reference.)

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Stardust

Gaiman, Neil. 1999. Stardust.

If this book doesn't have you at hello, I don't know that I can help you. There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart's Desire. And while that is, as beginnings go, not entirely novel (for every tale about every young man there ever was or will be could start in a similar manner) there was much about this young man and what happened to him that was unusual, although even he never knew the whole of it. What a great beginning. It's just so beautiful, so magical. Doesn't it just feel right?

Stardust is set in nineteenth century England in the community of Wall. (1830s and 1840s to be exact.) This community is built by a large (and by large I mean high and long) grey rock wall. There is a gap in the wall, however, a gap that is guarded at all times. Guarded so no one--especially children--can slip through, and guarded so no one can slip in. Beyond the gap, there is a meadow, a beautiful meadow that is forbidden. Forbidden except for one day (and one night) every nine years when the Faerie market comes to the meadow. This is the only time when the two communities (the rather mundane humans and the fantastical, magical faerie world) interact. Our novel opens with us meeting Dunstan Thorn.

I really can't say much more about it. I could, but I won't. It's magical. It's beautiful. It's adventuresome. It's just great storytelling. I loved every moment of it. There were so many things I loved about it that I couldn't begin to describe them in such a way as to do the book and its characters justice. Just trust me. If you haven't met Neil Gaiman, use Stardust as an introduction!!! This isn't my first Gaiman. It's my third. But it is by far my favorite.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Just letting you know....

Foxy writer is hosting the Mythopoeic Award Challenge in 2008. It lasts all twelve months. The goal is to read seven books that won the Mythopoeic Award. You can find the list of award winners here. And a list of finalists here. I'm not sure if finalists count or not. Which is why I haven't committed yet. I haven't found seven award-winners that I'm oh-so-excited-that-I'm-ready-to-commit-to yet but broadening it to finalists too, and I think I could find enough.

The challenge is to read seven books between JANUARY 1ST 2008 to DECEMBER 31ST 2008 from the list of Mythopoeic Award Winners. (See? All kinds of brilliant Fantasy books to choose from!) Here are the rules:

1. Choose seven books from the list of Mythopoeic Award Winners.
2. Anything on the list is fair game, fiction or non-fiction.
3. Post a link to your list in the comments of this post (if you don’t have a website, post your list in the comments.)
4. Somewhere in your post, link back to this challenge post. (permalink)
5. Read the books between January 1st, 2008 and December 31st, 2008.
6. You may start anytime in 2008, but you must finish by the end of December 31st, 2008.
7. You may combine this challenge with other challenges.

Here is my potential list and alternates:

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (nominee, 1974)
Watership Down by Richard Adams (nominee, 1975)
The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley (nominee, 1983)
The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley (nominee, 1983)
The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley (nominee, 1985)
Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card (winner, 1988)
Red Prophet by Orson Scott Card (nominee, 1989)
Prentice Alvin by Orson Scott Card (nominee, 1990)
The Giver by Lois Lowry (nominee children's 1994)
Good Griselle by Jane Yolen (nominee children's 1995)
Young Merlin trilogy consisting of Passager, Hobby and Merlin by Jane Yolen (winner children's 1998)
Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley (nominee children's 1998)
Stardust by Neil Gaiman (winner adult 1999)
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine (children's nominee 1999)
Skellig by David Almond (children's nominee 2000)
Beast by Donna Jo Napoli (children's nominee 2001)
American Gods by Neil Gaiman (adult nominee 2002)
The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine (children's nominee 2002)
Island of the Aunts by Eva Ibbotson (children's nominee 2002)
Tithe by Holly Black (children's nominee 2003)
Heir Apparent by Vivian Vande Velde (children's nominee 2003)
The Hollow Kingdom by Clare B. Dunkle (children's winner, 2004)
The Abhorsen Trilogy, consisting of Sabriel, Lirael: Daughter of the Clayr, and Abhorsen, by Garth Nix (children's nominee 2005)
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (adult winner 2006)
Valiant by Holly Black (children's nominee 2006)
Corbenic by Catherine Fisher (children's winner 2007)
Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt (children's nominee 2007)

Those are the titles that are coming to me at the moment. But I really need to regroup and refocus to see how many of these would be eligible for the Cardathon. If OSC is recommending any of these authors and titles, then maybe I need to consider expanding my reading. One thing is clear--I want to read more--I need to read more Gaiman this year.