Review: Weave A Circle Round

Read if you like: dangerous, unexpected magic, houses that have a mind of their own, and sweeping adventures through time and history.

Weave A Circle Round | Kari Maaren

Series: N/A

Genre: Young Adult/Middle Grade, Fantasy, Historical, Time Travel
Released: November 28th 2017
Pages: 336
Format: Ebook
Source: Publisher

The unexpected can move in next door

Freddy wants desperately to not be noticed. She doesn't want to be seen as different or unusual, but her step-brother Roland gets attention because he's deaf, and her little sister Mel thinks she's a private detective. All Freddy wants to do is navigate high school with as little trouble as possible.

Then someone moves into the house on Grosvenor Street. Two extremely odd someones.

Cuerva Lachance and Josiah aren't . . . normal. When they move in next door, the house begins to exhibit some decidedly strange tendencies, like not obeying the laws of physics or reality. Just as Freddy thinks she's had enough of Josiah following her around, she's plunged into an adventure millennia in the making and discovers the truth about the new neighbors.

I wasn't sure what to make of this book at first, but the mystery and the hints of magic and wrongness kept me reading - and I'm glad they did! I really enjoyed this book of strangeness and time travel magic and family, and I especially liked how Freddy, the main character, was a grumpy, contrary, angry girl who grew SO MUCH by the end. 

I liked a lot about this book - the house on Grosvenor Street, which grew rooms and lost them and filled with chairs and spider plants at random intervals, the mysterious and maybe menacing characters of Josiah (who I adore and want more stories of please!) and Cuerva Lachance, who has lived forever and has been reincarnated as all kinds of people - notably a Viking man and a cavewoman-type - and all genders. Sometimes she's a man, sometimes she's a woman - she just is, and I loved how Freddy shrugged and accepted it for what it was. Pretty cool way of teaching gender fluidity to teenagers. I liked Freddy's siblings, young Mel who's obsessed with mysteries, and deaf Roland, who is secretly a hero. But I especially loved the different time periods the book went to, and how each was different and imaginative in their own ways!

I'm really not done with these characters and their stories. More please!

4.5 stars

Review: The Changer's Key

A Riddle in Ruby: The Changer's Key | Kent Davis

Published by: Greenwillow Books, September 27th 2016

Genre: Middle Grade, Fantasy

Pages: 384

Format: Ebook

Source: Greenwillow Books, via Edelweiss

The second book in the fantasy-adventure trilogy. In an alternate colonial America, young thief Ruby Teach trains to become the greatest weapon in the coming war.

To save her friends and family, apprentice thief Ruby Teach bargained with the man who chased her across the sea and through an alternate version of colonial Philadelphia. Now she’s training to become a soldier in the war he foresees and being experimented on by the army’s scientists. Ruby’s blood holds a secret, if only someone can unlock it.

Meanwhile, Captain Teach and Ruby’s friends—a motley crew made up of a young aristocrat, a servant, an alchemist, and mysterious woodswoman—are racing against time to find and liberate Ruby.

Kent Davis’s imagining of a colonial America powered by alchemy is fascinating and wholly original. The heroes are swept through cities and unsettled territories with imagination, humor, and magic.

I remember really liking the first book, but I just did connect with this at all. The Ruby plot, I liked but I didn't really care about it, and the other plot didn't interest me at all. But I still like Athena a whole lot, and kinda wish the book was all from her POV. By the end of this, I was just reading so I could finish it, and I'm not sure why because I really loved the first book.

Characters ★★★☆☆

Setting/world ★★★☆☆

Writing ★★★☆☆

The Shrunken Head (ARC Review)

Curiosity House: The Shrunken Head | Lauren Oliver

Published by: Harper Collins Children's Books, September 29th 2015

Genre: MG, Fantasy, Historical (pretty sure?)

Pages: 368

Format: Ebook

Source: Harper Collins Children's Books, via Edelweiss

What you will find in this book:

– A rather attractive bearded lady
– Several scandalous murders 
– A deliciously disgusting Amazonian shrunken head
– Four extraordinary children with equally extraordinary abilities 
– A quite loquacious talking bird

Blessed with extraordinary abilities, orphans Philippa, Sam, and Thomas have grown up happily in Dumfrey’s Dime Museum of Freaks, Oddities, and Wonders. But when a fourth child, Max, a knife-
thrower, joins the group, it sets off an unforgettable chain of events. When the museum’s Amazonian shrunken head is stolen, the four are determined to get it back. But their search leads them to a series of murders and an explosive secret about their pasts. 

This sensational new series combines the unparalleled storytelling gifts of Lauren Oliver with the rich 
knowledge of the notorious relics collector H.C. Chester. 

What you will NOT find in this book:

– An accountant named Seymour
– A never-ending line at the post office
– Brussel sprouts (shudder)
– A lecture on finishing all your homework on time
– A sweet, gooey story for nice little girls and boys.

The Shrunken Head is cute and fun and lively, and if you're looking of a lighthearted book with a lot of heart, you need to read it. Not only does it have a cool historical feel, an engaging mystery plot, and a fascinating cast of characters, it's fast paced.

The first thing I liked was the story telling - I love the way it's written. I really felt like I was witnessing a dime museum. I also really like the four main characters, even though I do think it wouldn't have been so difficult to have a main character of colour among the four kids. The way they interacted, and how their relationships built as the book went along felt really authentic. (Plus Sam and Max were total cuties.) The story, too, is exciting - murders and curious objects and one cad of a reporter. I really enjoyed everything.

My only gripe, beside the overly white cast, is the ableism throughout, although that's mostly to be expected with the subject matter (i.e. freak show) and it is time appropriate (to when it's set, not really when it's written.) 

Still, it's pretty darn great and I recommend it.

Characters ★★★☆☆

Setting/world ★★★☆☆

Writing ★★★★☆

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A Riddle In Ruby (ARC Review)

Key To The Catalyst: A Riddle In Ruby | Kent Davis

Published by: Greenwillow Books, September 22nd 2015

Genre: MG, Fantasy, Steampunk, Alternate History, Ships

Pages: 352

Format: Ebook

Source: Greenwillow Books, via Edelweiss

Ruby is a thief-in-training and a keeper of secrets—ones she doesn't even know herself. A Riddle in Ruby is the first book in a witty and fast-paced fantasy-adventure trilogy for fans for Jonathan Stroud, Septimus Heap, and The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates.

Ruby Teach, daughter of a smuggler and pirate, has been learning how to swindle and steal and pick the most complex locks for as long as she can remember. But a collision with aristocratic young lord Athen sends her spinning into chaos. Little did she know that her whole life has been spent in hiding from nefarious secret societies and the Royal Navy . . . who are both now on her trail. In this debut middle grade adventure, Kent Davis weaves a rip-roaring tale through an alternate colonial Philadelphia. A world where alchemy—that peculiar mix of magic and science—has fueled the industrial revolution. With this highly original setting, a cast of fully rounded characters and rapid-fire, funny dialogue, A Riddle in Ruby will call to mind fantasy greats like Diana Wynne Jones and Terry Pratchett.

Thank you, A Riddle In Ruby, for bringing the magic back to middle grade fantasy. I've read a slew of MG fantasy this year, most with ships and pirates as is my thing, and they've all been pretty good. But not amazing. None of them had the spark for me, that magic I've been looking for. 

This book did.

A Riddle In Ruby is a fun, high stakes adventure. It starts off on a ship (you know that's my jam) and moves onto an alternate history version of Philadelphi. Now I don't know much about American history or actual Philadelphia but I thought the setting was awesome, and wholly unique. There was a city on top of the city! Everything about this book felt indulgent, like Kent Davis had looked into my head and seen everything I wanted in a book and stuck it all in A Riddle In Ruby. Ruby, especially, stuck out to me. I loved her so much, and Athen too. Maybe the characters were the real magic I've been looking for.

My only niggle was that this book stuck to the thing where the MC is a young girl and follows a slightly older boy, who is more intelligent and worldly and knows all, where the MC is a silly little girl who needs help. I've read many MG that have this for some reason and I thought this book had given me the same thing that makes me feel awkward and uncomfortable. But nope. Everything I thought I knew was really a secret very cleverly concealed. So I actually love everything about this. It just feels fresh and it's compelling - the villain is interesting and doesn't fall into the same old villainous tropes, there are metal animals (!!!), dastardly sailors, and a very serious riddle in Ruby that I'd like to solve.

Do yourself a favour and read it.

(But what does the series name mean, and what's with the key on the cover? What am I missing? I'm so excited to get answers!!!)

Characters ★★★★★

Setting/world-building ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★☆

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The Vanishing Island (ARC Review)

The Chronicles of The Black Tulip: The Vanishing Island | Barry Wolverton

Published by: Walden Pond Press, September 1st 2015

Genre: MG, Fantasy, Ships

Pages: 352

Format: Ebook

Source: Walden Pond Press, via Edelweiss

Does the Vanishing Island really exist? And if so, what treasure—or terrible secret—was hidden by its disappearance?

It’s 1599, the Age of Discovery in Europe. But for Bren Owen, growing up in the small town of Map on the coast of Britannia has meant anything but adventure. Enticed by the tales sailors have brought through Map’s port, and inspired by the arcane maps his father creates as a cartographer for the cruel and charismatic map mogul named Rand McNally, Bren is convinced that fame and fortune await him elsewhere. That is, until his repeated attempts to run away land him a punishment worse than death—cleaning up the town vomitorium.

It is there that Bren meets a dying sailor, who gives him a strange gift that hides a hidden message. Cracking the code could lead Bren to a fabled lost treasure that could change his life forever, and that of his widowed father. But to get there he will have to tie his fate to a mysterious Dutch admiral obsessed with a Chinese legend about an island that long ago disappeared from any map.

Before long, Bren is in greater danger than he ever imagined, and will need the help of an unusual friend named Mouse to survive. Barry Wolverton’s thrilling adventure spans oceans and cultures, brings together the folklore of East and West, and proves that fortune is always a double-edged sword.

This book should be perfect for me - it's got ships and sailors and maps and a hidden island. But something about it never clicked, meaning I liked it a lot but never loved it.

Bren was a pretty okay character - fairly standard for MG fantasy although I was impressed with him not being an orphan (that trend is way old and this was a nice change.) Still, I would have loved to have read this entire book from Mouse's POV. Mouse was much more interesting and complex than Bren and I want to know more about her.

The story was great, though. It had everything I love as mentioned above, it wasn't stringent on the ship paraphernalia despite being a kid's book, and whenever the plot seemed to dip it would pick up the pace without warning. There were several WHAT THE HECK moments for me, which were a nice surprise - it's always fun to be shocked.

All in all, a fun, fast-paced fantasy that holds many secrets. You can't go wrong with this one.

Characters ★★★☆☆

Setting/world-building ★★★★☆

Writing ★★★☆☆

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Eden's Wish (ARC Review)

Eden's Wish | M. Tara Crowl

Published by: Disney Hyperion, September 1st 2015

Genre: MG, Fantasy, Jinn

Pages: 272

Format: Ebook

Source: Disney Hyperion, via Netgalley

All twelve years of Eden's life have been spent in an antique oil lamp. She lives like a princess inside her tiny, luxurious home, but to Eden,the lamp is nothing but a prison. She hates being a genie. All she wants, more than anything, is freedom.

When Eden finds a gateway to Earth inside the lamp, she takes her chance. In a moment, she's entered the world she loves. And this time, she won't be sent back after three wishes.

Posing as the new kid at a California middle school, Eden revels in all of Earth's pleasures-but quickly learns that this world isn't as perfect as she always thought it was. Eden soon finds herself in the middle of a centuries-old conflict between powerful immortals. A ruthless organization run by a former genie will stop at nothing to acquire the lamp and its power-including hurting Tyler and Sasha, the mortal friends who have given Eden a home. To save her friends-and protect the magic of the lamp-Eden will have to decide once and for all where she belongs. 

My quest for the Jinn book of my heart continues...

I liked Eden's Wish. It wasn't exactly as I hoped it'd be, but it was very cute and I enjoyed it. It seemed to take a while to get going, into the main plot with the Electric and the loyal genies (which actually felt less important to the book than the friendships Eden made, which wasn't great), but I liked Eden enough to continue. This book never had that magical middle grade feel to me, and I wasn't over-fussed on Tyler and Sasha, but there was still a lot about it that I liked - mostly Eden and her wonder at everything on Earth, and how headstrong she was. I never proper loved it but I'd still recommend. If you're looking for a sweet Genie story, definitely read Eden's Wish.

Characters ★★★☆☆

Setting/world-building ★★★☆☆

Writing ★★★☆☆

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The Fog Diver (ARC Review)

The Fog Diver | Joel Ross

Published by: HarperCollins, May 26th 2015

Genre: MG, Fantasy, Ships

Pages: 336

Format: Ebook

Source: HarperCollins, via Edelweiss

A deadly white mist has cloaked the earth for hundreds of years. Humanity clings to the highest mountain peaks, where the wealthy Five Families rule over the teeming lower slopes and rambling junkyards. As the ruthless Lord Kodoc patrols the skies to enforce order, thirteen-year-old Chess and his crew scavenge in the Fog-shrouded ruins for anything they can sell to survive.

Hazel is the captain of their salvage raft: bold and daring. Swedish is the pilot: suspicious and strong. Bea is the mechanic: cheerful and brilliant. And Chess is the tetherboy: quiet and quick…and tougher than he looks. But Chess has a secret, one he’s kept hidden his whole life. One that Lord Kodoc is desperate to exploit for his own evil plans. And even as Chess unearths the crew’s biggest treasure ever, they are running out of time...

The Fog Diver is the fantasy MG I've been looking for all year. It's fun, and it has heart and danger and complete originality. I loved it!

I'd never known a world like this before, where a fog has taken over the earth and people now live on the top of mountains. So first off, the world sucked me in, because it was just so new and interesting. And then I got attached to the characters, Hazel and Bea especially. The characters in The Fog Diver are an air-raft crew who take advantage of Chess's ability to survive the fog (because he was an experiment of Lord Kodoc's) to salvage things of worth from the ground. I loved their dynamic and their easy friendship, how they'd clearly been together years and knew each other inside out. The world of this book drew me in but the friendships kept my eyes glued to every page.

This book has everything I was looking for. There's enough fun to space out the stakes and the angst of Chess's back-story, the characters are individuals and likeable, their relationships are real, and everything about the plot is compelling. I'm so happy this book exists and I got to read it. The Fog Diver is the best middle grade I've read all year. I loved it, your kid brother or sister will love it, and I'd bet even your grandma would love it too.

Characters ★★★★☆

Setting/world building ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★☆

Omega City (ARC Review)

Omega City: Omega City | Diana Peterfreund

Published by: Balzer+Bray, April 28th 2015

Genre: MG, Mystery, (slight) Science Fiction

Pages: 336

Format: Ebook

Source: Balzer+Bray, via Edelweiss

The first middle grade novel in an exciting new series from acclaimed author Diana Peterfreund, perfect for fans of The Goonies and The City of Ember.

Gillian Seagret doesn't listen to people who say her father's a crackpot. His conspiracy theories about the lost technology of Cold War–era rocket scientist Dr. Aloysius Underberg may have cost him his job and forced them to move to the middle of nowhere, but Gillian knows he's right and plans to prove it.

When she discovers a missing page from Dr. Underberg's diary in her father's mess of an office, she thinks she's found a big piece of the puzzle—a space-themed riddle promising to lead to Dr. Underberg's greatest invention. Enlisting the help of her skeptical younger brother, Eric, her best friend, Savannah, and Howard, their NASA-obsessed schoolmate, Gillian sets off on a journey into the ruins of Omega City, a vast doomsday bunker deep inside the earth,.

But they aren't alone inside its dark and flooded halls. For while Gillian wants to save her dad's reputation by bringing Dr. Underberg's secrets to light, there are others who will stop at nothing to make sure they stay buried . . . forever.

Continuing the trend of this years fine-but-not-amazing middle grade, Omega City is a pretty okay story. The mystery has lots of twists and turns but I did see a lot of them coming, some things were fairly fun (rocket; scuba diving up a lift chute) but I wasn't that interested, the characters are fine even if they don't stand out, but they do have a genuine motive for what they do, even if it's just wanting to get out of the city, or Gillian wanting to clear her dad's name. I liked that it wasn't just empty actions, or for the sake of fun, kids being kids. That was pretty good.

What really impressed me was the world of Omega City, the underground war bunker CITY. Now, that was just cool. I liked that it wasn't pristine, that it was in ruins, and that it still housed a perfectly functional rocket. I thought the snippets of history woven in fit the story perfectly and give the city - and Underberg - meaning. 

But other than that? I was fairly bored, reading for the sake of finishing a novel. The sci-fi wasn't sci-fi enough for me, and the mystery wasn't all that mysterious. All in all, a decent story with a good concept but nothing to write home about in my opinion.

((I give it 3 stars but it's nearer 2.5 really))

Characters ★★★☆☆

Setting/world-building ★★★☆☆

Writing ★★★☆☆

Ferals (ARC Review)

Ferals: Ferals | Jacob Grey
Published in the UK as Ferals: The Crow Talker, out March 26th

Published by: HarperCollins, April 28th 2015

Genre: MG, Fantasy

Pages: 288

Format: Ebook

Source: HarperCollins, via Edelweiss

A sinister threat. A city in danger. A boy with the power to command the crows. Ferals is the first book in a dark, action-packed trilogy that’s partThe Graveyard Book, part Batman, and all high-octane adventure.

Blackstone was once a thriving metropolis. But that was before the Dark Summer—a wave of violence and crime that swept through the city eight years ago, orchestrated by the fearsome Spinning Man. Now the Spinning Man is on the move again, and a boy named Caw is about to be caught in his web.

Caw has never questioned his ability to communicate with crows. But as the threat of a new Dark Summer looms, Caw discovers the underground world of Blackstone’s ferals—those with the power to speak to and control animals. Caw is one of them. And to save his city, he must quickly master abilities he never knew he had . . . and prepare to defeat a darkness he never could have imagined.

I'm really sad this book had so many insects in it, because I think it would have been amazing. But I just kept cringing and flinching at every scene with a tonne of spiders and roaches and I almost backed out of the book and stopped reading. I'm glad I didn't though, because the book itself grew in strength in the last half.

I liked Caw, but I didn't have that much of an opinion in him. Mostly I liked his interaction with the crows, and how he refused to back down when his friend was in danger. Lydia, I didn't form an opinion either. Crumb, I didn't like for most of the book, same with Pip although that guy grew on me. The villains felt like carbon copies of a bunch of other villains, but maybe that's to be expected in a book compared to Batman. The setting was fine but it didn't really feel there. Not so much a problem as a personal gripe, though.

The magic is the best thing about this book. Ferals can communicate with and control animals, some cool like crows and foxes, some disgusting like cockroaches. I know this is a book for teenage boys and I know some teenage boys love insects, but it really drew the book down for me. Along with the slow start, this book wasn't as good as it could have been.

Great concept and awesome crows but too many insects for me personally.

Characters ★★★☆☆

Setting/world building ★★★☆☆

Writing ★★★☆☆

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