book reviews
Mar. 11th, 2010 04:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnyjadwigaThe Death-Defying Pepper Roux. Geraldine McCaughrean.
This slight but death-defying YA adventure has overtones of Le Miserables mixed with Sid Fleischman. Le Pauvre, as his family calls him, has lived his entire life under the shadow of his Aunt's vision that he will die before he is 14. On his 14th birthday, he finally breaks away from home and ends up pursuing a number of wildly divergent and mishap prone careers, taking on several different identities, helped by the fact that "people see what they want to see" but always feeling the fearsome pursuit of saints and angels on his back, come to claim him. Adults will quickly suspect what a kindly if eccentric mentor finally tells Pepper at the end of the book, but the breakneck adventures and the oddly poignant characters and writing will keep you reading.
Goblin Baby. Berlie Doherty.
This first chapter book is a cuddly retelling of the classic theme: older sibling rescues younger sibling stolen by the fairies. Not very substantive, but with a few deft touches. Nice line drawings, too.
The Society of Unrelenting Vigilance. Glenn Dakin.
Subtitled The Candle Man, this is another YA adventure, more than a little reminiscent of Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book crossed with Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos. The usual orphan child raised by sinister caretakers, devoid of all human contact; but when he is rescued, things begin to go strangely. For fans of youth gaslamp fantasy. Would adapt beautifully into a videogame. :)
This slight but death-defying YA adventure has overtones of Le Miserables mixed with Sid Fleischman. Le Pauvre, as his family calls him, has lived his entire life under the shadow of his Aunt's vision that he will die before he is 14. On his 14th birthday, he finally breaks away from home and ends up pursuing a number of wildly divergent and mishap prone careers, taking on several different identities, helped by the fact that "people see what they want to see" but always feeling the fearsome pursuit of saints and angels on his back, come to claim him. Adults will quickly suspect what a kindly if eccentric mentor finally tells Pepper at the end of the book, but the breakneck adventures and the oddly poignant characters and writing will keep you reading.
Goblin Baby. Berlie Doherty.
This first chapter book is a cuddly retelling of the classic theme: older sibling rescues younger sibling stolen by the fairies. Not very substantive, but with a few deft touches. Nice line drawings, too.
The Society of Unrelenting Vigilance. Glenn Dakin.
Subtitled The Candle Man, this is another YA adventure, more than a little reminiscent of Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book crossed with Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos. The usual orphan child raised by sinister caretakers, devoid of all human contact; but when he is rescued, things begin to go strangely. For fans of youth gaslamp fantasy. Would adapt beautifully into a videogame. :)
