Tess of the Road - Rachel Hartman

“Her head nested in spindly weeds; beyond them the sky glowed preternaturally blue through the slats. As her chewing slowed, she noticed a bee crawling along a blade of grass above her head. She counted its stripes, amazed to see them juxtaposed with the stripes of sky. The bees were a warning, the sky’s a promise she could not yet fathom, and for a moment everything seemed connected, aching beauty and imminent danger, the fragility of the bee and the scalded roof of her mouth, the transcendent savor of bread and the fact that she was literally lying in a ditch.”

Tess Dombegh is a problem child, the bad twin and a troublemaker. At least, that’s what her family would have you believe. When in truth she’s felt overlooked in favour of her “prettier, kinder” twin and her older half-dragon sister, endured years of verbal abuse from her mother and was assaulted by someone she trusted. Suffocated under the weight of familial expectations and forced to accept a role she doesn’t want, Tess leaves home on the hunt for purpose and adventure.

The story is decidedly mature with adult themes and situations and though it’s the third book in the series, readers don’t need to start from the beginning to understand the story. The world Hartman has built is full and populated with a plethora of complex characters and memorable personalities. We’re also introduced to a number of areas due to the distance Tess travels. This is all held together by rich description and vivid imagery that bring the kingdom of Goredd and its people to life.

Tess is a flawed character and a refreshing change from the stereotype of a perfect protagonist. She’s stubborn, has a temper and holds a grudge. Over the course of the story we witness her grow and change in relation to her circumstances and the people surrounding her. And thanks to length of the book, her character development felt organic and realistic.

One thing that would have made the story more comprehensive was a map. Without one it made picturing Tess’ journey difficult. As well there were some spots where scenes felt compressed or skipped over, such as at the monastery. Expanding these scenes would have allowed for more character interaction as these settings sometimes felt rushed through.

If you’re looking for an engaging story set in a world populated by magic, dragons and legends I would highly recommend you try this series.   

Lumberjanes Book 1 - Noelle Stevenson

An intrepid group of girls at sleepaway camp bond while solving mysteries in the woods and encountering supernatural creatures. This graphic novel has a Gravity Falls-esque feel to it and it all begins with a fight against a pack of three-eyed foxes.

Thus begins the adventure as the five girls of Roanoke cabin are left with a strange phrase and a golden eye that leads them past a river monster, down into the earth and in direct confrontation with a troop of mind controlled boy scouts.

The story is arranged in a unique way as if it’s been stuffed into the middle of a field manual for the camp. Each chapter begins with a page from the manual about a specific badge (all named using puns) and ends with polaroids documenting their journey. It creates an immersive feel that expands the world beyond the scope of the art and dialogue.

While it’s difficult to make this many characters distinctive “Lumberjanes” accomplishes this and then some. All of the girls are different with a variety of personalities and body types. And as the story begins in medias res we learn who they are through action and dialogue. Apart from being incredibly funny, the dialogue itself was fluid and an amusing substitute for swearing and a shared catchphrase showed how closely the group had bonded.

The artwork was bright and colourful, which felt fitting in terms of the ages of the characters and the supernatural elements of the story and creatures encountered in their investigations.

The one drawback is that the felt cut off. The first chapter is darn near perfect because it introduces us to the characters and the world and ties up the adventure encountered within while leaving room for questions and further exploration. The next three chapters are all tied together and created more questions than it answered by the end of the story and I was left feeling unsatisfied.

Apart from that one hiccup this was a great read and introduction to a series that both amused and intrigued me.  

Terrier - Tamora Pierce

This book is set in the same world as “The Lioness Rampant” series, taking place several hundred years earlier, following Beka Cooper, a poor girl living in Tortall. She joins the Provost’s Dogs to keep the peace and soon discovers people who won’t be missed are disappearing.  Thanks to her mysterious powers, a magical cat and a stubborn streak a mile wide, she plunges headlong into a story that has implications for the entire Lower City.

Beka is a flawed character which makes her actions and dialogue that much more realistic. She has fears and doubts. She has trouble doing her job at times because of communication. But through the course of the book we see her adapt and evolve to her new situation and to those around her.

There are also some great well-rounded secondary characters such as Beka’s mentors Tunstall and Goodwin and Rosto the Piper. Their personalities are slowly revealed throughout the story and on occasion by third parties. This made for a more organic experience rather than an infodump through exposition.  

As well the maps and appendix were much appreciated as the book covers a lot of ground both geographically and linguistically. This helped to physically center the reader and the addition of slang made the story more immersive and showed how much world-building Pierce had put into the series.

One drawback that remained throughout the entire story was the epistolary style. At times it got in the way of the story. In the beginning I had to delve through three separate POV levels to get to Beka’s story which was confusing and the result was it took longer to get into the story. As well one diary entry contained a plethora of spelling errors which was distracting and unnecessary. There are other better ways to communicate a person’s literacy. The style was somewhat mitigated though by Pierce’s transitions between Beka’s passive and active voice. She created a seamless shift between diary entries and present action so that it’s unnoticeable and doesn’t interrupt the narrative flow of the story.

If you’re a fan of Pierce or of the Lioness series I would highly recommend this book as the beginning of an interesting new series.

Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson

"In those days folk still believed in witches and trembled at a curse; and this one, falling so pat, like a wayside omen, to arrest me ere I carried out my purpose, took the pith out of my legs."

David Balfour is an orphan, bereft of family but for his Uncle Ebeneezer. He imagines his troubles are over only to find himself sold off and shipped onto a boat bound for the colonies. Fortunately he finds a kindred spirit in Alan Breck Stewart. During a storm they defend themselves against the treacherous crew, a scene ending in a shipwreck. David washes up on a island and from there tries to make his way home while being implicated in a murder and avoiding British redcoats, all to reclaim his inheritance.

I've only read one other Stevenson book "Treasure Island and it is by far the superior book. "Kidnapped" isn't a bad book per se but nothing much really happens in the entirety of the story. In fact, there were several times I had to put the book down because it wasn't very interesting. I would put this in the lesser canon of Steveson's work. David spends a lot of time travelling and not a lot of time actually doing anything. The main disappointment is there was so much potential here but Stevenson doesn't do much with what he has.

I was expecting more, having seen one of the movie versions but now I think I'll remove it from The List.


Rating: 2/5