Come Witness The Savage Spectacle Of 'Wild Boy'!

Sometimes, I like a little variety in the young fiction I read, and the best way I've found to do this is to look at fiction for a slightly younger age range. I've done this before on this blog, for example when I reviewed 'Wonder', and I'm always just a pinch fascinated to see the differences between what is classified by children’s and YA. However, from reading ‘Wild Boy’ by Rob Lloyd Jones, I have confirmed my suspicion that it is not in the enjoyment found by older readers.

'Wild Boy' ticks all the boxes a 10-year-old would like ticked in a book. Action, adventure, mystery and a heroic underdog to root for. From about the 1980s to the 2000s, there has been a huge shift in that, in the more recent films, in the end, everyone who is under appreciated demonstrates their value and is rewarded zealously for it, be that in popularity, sport or even singing, if you're Zac Efron. Wild Boy makes a perfect underdog and his partner in crime Clarissa passes well for a loveable rogue with a tragic past. Part of what makes this book so appealing is its cast of vivid Victorian-styled characters. This is not just the circus members, but in the work house and in the intellectual circles Wild Boy eventually uncovers. These perfectly painted caricatures cast themselves in roles that are often horrible, and visibly grotesque (it is a freak show, literally, at points in this novel), and really bring the story to life. This is helped even further by Rob Lloyd Jones' backdrop of creepy Victorian London, with twists and turns in setting so frequently, you may have to be a Londoner (which thankfully I am) to keep up.

This, I would say, was the books only disadvantage. With such a well-known setting as London, it's impossible to be vague about where you are placing your tale, but, at the same time, this double edged sword means you are unable to keep your reader following so vividly at points, without the aid of a map. This book also suffered a little from too much going on. This does, as I said, tick every box for a 10-year-old's idea of adventure - but is that such a good thing? Sometimes less can be more, and, though I'll admit the pace of the plot kept up, there were so many different settings running around at a point I was slightly lost. A little more description of each location would have gone a long way in helping this, but I guess something must be sacrificed in the name of a fast paced adventure, and setting is not the worst thing that could have been chosen.

All in all, I was really charmed by 'Wild Boy'. Something about it felt unique, which is pretty rare in fiction these days. It's been compared often enough to Sherlock Holmes, but this is selling it short as simply an emulation of a classic. 'Wild Boy' stands strong as a strong and fascinating read all on its own, not needing to hold itself as a mimesis,  but using well known elements to its best advantage.

Ninja Book Swap!

NB: I know this isn't my normal post day, but this needed a blog :)

I was lucky enough again this year to be able to participate in the Ninja Book Swap, an organised swapping of presents and good reads between book fanatics. And when I say lucky enough, I am not kidding: my application just managed to get sent on the minute of the deadline. I will not spoil you on on what I sent my present partner (as I only sent their parcel out yesterday and so I doubt they will have it yet, however I do wish to thank @bethlikesbikes (go check out her twitter) for my amazing gifts.

Firstly this is easily the most well wrapped parcel I have had in ages, seriously, do you know how long I spent with sellotape wrapped round my fingers?

I am seriously impressed by wrapped skills, and then when I got to the inside everything was beautiful wrapped in tissue paper and I just had a small happy moment looking at it for a while.

The adorable card that came with it.

The actual books? PERFECT. I have been dying to read ‘Fangirl’ for ages, and anything Neil Gaiman is a winner for me.

The presents were equally adorable. I have always believed I may secretly be a unicorn. Now I am sure of it.

So thank you so much again to @bethlikesbikes and thank you to @NinjaBookSwap. If you wanna think about joining in with this fantastic treasure, give them a tweet or click right here!

Can It Really Be 'More Than This'?

I've always tried to not be too influenced by what other people say. But when the front cover of Patrick Ness' 'More Than This' had a comment by John Green saying "Just read it", it steered my eyes towards it like a rocket. I'm a nerdfighter and I am partial to a little of both of the Green brothers, and, despite my questionably positive reviews of both of John's books that I have reviewed so far, we do seem to have a similar taste in literature. So, putting aside my feelings for its minimalist yet somehow garishly yellow cover, I picked it up and gave it a go.

I'll be brutally. honest, this book is not a quick starter. If you're one who needs immediate action or dialogue, I would skip to part two, as aside from the boy's death (it's not a spoiler if it's in the blurb), the beginning feels, in places, a little more Bear Grylls than what is the deeper purpose of all this. Do not, however, hold this against it. The opening chapters are at least slow on purpose, as, if our protagonist suddenly remembered everything and acquired immaculate survival skills without any struggle or vomiting, I would have a lot more problems with the opening. Alongside this, the rest of the novel is very pacey, dramatic, bang-bang action, and without this calm before the storm, I feel it would develop skim-read syndrome, a disease suffered by books with so much plot that the reader skim reads just to find out what happens next. Ness has this beautiful balance with his story, as elegantly placed as a grain of sand to two feathers on a scale, and yes if you're not into slow starters you might struggle a bit, but I promise the end result is worth it.

My problem reviewing this book is reviewing without spoilers. So much of this novel's foundations are laid in layer after layer of surprise, with plot twists that even I, a seasoned cynic and story-spoiler, couldn't guess. Ness' other real strength in this book is his perfectly un-beautiful character creation. I have said before and I shall shout it from the highest hills: YA does not need more Mary Sue, perfect protagonists, what it needs is believable people. Whether they are a likeable person to the reader or not, they should be real characters, real personalities, real emotion underneath their printed paper skins. Everything about the main character of 'More Than This' felt real, his selfishness, his loss, his anger, his guilt and, above all, his desperation and conundrum as to whether he is alive or dead. 

A lot of the time, people have a tendency to pigeon hole YA to not a 'serious' subject material, reducing it down to the 'Twilight's of this world. 'More Than This' wipes this theory off the face of the planet. Taking such a heavy subject matter and handling it so beautifully is the greatest skill of Patrick Ness' novel and it is definitely worth a read, albeit only if you're sure you have existential-crisis-proof hat on.

Could This Be 'The Jewel' In The Crown (Of Dystopian YA)?

I was lucky enough, thanks to Walker Books, to have the chance to read ‘The Jewel’ by Amy Ewing. As I said a few weeks back, I am not a true buff with regards to dystopian fiction, but when I was told this had a real ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ feel to it, I was intrigued. Atwood struck gold with that novel, and I was very interested to see a YA take on the idea.
                This story of Violet, Lot 197, sold to the highest bidder in order to be used as a surrogate, was really moving in sections but also managed to maintain a constant tenseness. The sense of “oh God, what’s that horrible shadow and is it going to come back for her” was written into the very fabric of Ewing’s style. What was most impressive about this however was that I still didn’t lose the actual moments of joy that Violet did have in the novel. It’s easy in a world of seemingly never ending doom to simply extinguish any of the hope for improvement, hitting rock bottom and then simply knocking the floor in again and again. Whilst this can still be really lovely writing, it gets a little desensitising (I use Game Of Thrones deaths for my marker for this one). Even right up to climax of the novel, I still believed and prayed and, though small, the little white saint of hope stood ever-vigilant in a corner somewhere. I’m not a huge sucker for happy endings, in fact quite the opposite, but it always gives a stronger reading experience when you get a three-dimensional view of tragedy. There are quite a few seriously shocking scenes in this book (sorry to spoil, but there were servitude leashes involved) which helped to amplify this contrast even further, assisted even more by the setting. When horrid things happen in grubby towns, it isn’t really a surprising read, but in a palace of sheer decadence and whilst everyone is wearing a chiffon gown? Now that is a place that gives an already horrifying event a whole new skin of repulsiveness.
                This novel was not without its flaws. The romance subplot did feel a little shoe-horned at points, but only because there were quite a few threads they were attempting to tie up. To be fair to novel, it did manage to do this, but there were points where I felt Violet and Ash’s relationship struggled to be a story in its own right, and yet at points it seemed the entire novel’s plot was their love. However, having said this, the romance was not an unlovable twee one, and the “oh I’ve never met someone I might fancy before” vibe at least made sense as Violet had basically never seen any men that weren’t family or her make-up artist for the Auction, Lucian (who was hands down my favourite character, although it did seem a little like copying ‘The Hunger Games’ from the film clips I’ve seen.) Ash felt at least slightly developed, which is more that can be said for most characters of his kind, and, despite being a little too tragic for my liking, I was rooting for him and Violet at the end.
                Overall, I really thought this book did justice to a pretty terrifying theme, and its cliff-hanger ending left me dying for more (seriously, I have already begun fan theories in my mind). The book is released in September, and I highly recommend giving it a go. Ewing has found Atwood’s mine and found a whole new precious metal with ‘The Jewel’.

I Found Something When I Was 'Looking For Alaska'

Today, I review the infamous 'Looking For Alaska' by John Green, and this is one novel where I really struggle as to where to begin. Part of this is because I know how popular it is and I feel afraid a lynching is a'coming if I criticise it, but it is more than that. On the one hand it is exactly the Bildungsroman I expected it to be from reviews, a relatively neutral protagonist, struggling towards a more exciting "Great Perhaps", and eventually succeeds. However, on the other hand, this book really surprised me, and impressed me with its honest and relatively complex characters and it was nothing like I expected. You see my dilemma.

              I'll start with the controversial stuff today. See if you follow my thinking on this one: I liked the book. I really enjoyed reading it, and I found it gripping and tragic and heart wrenching. But I think I liked Alaska dead more than Alaska alive. Now before you begin with "Ah yes, this is exactly how Miles felt, see you prefer her idealised form", no. I preferred Alaska dead because she was a "hurricane" and hurricanes destroy everything they touch. I found Alaska quite unlikable to be honest, but this was in part because the other characters were created so well, and also in a way that made them so likeable. This didn't mean Alaska was badly constructed (on the contrary, in my opinion) but it's a simple truth: you don't like characters who hurt your favourite characters and for me, that was a lot of Alaska's personality. The other part of her, which I was equally unmoved by and not fond of, was her endless sweeping statements and her brooding and moody attitude ("I smoke to die" was one I had a real distaste for). Regular readers may remember that this was the one of the only problems I could find with TFIOS, but I did excuse it as dying teenagers deserve to express their drama and feelings however they wish (oversimplification but you’ll catch my drift if you’ve read the previous review). But Alaska came off as more shallow from this, and even her backstory felt to be part of her cliché. I sound harsh, but I will say, amidst all my disinterest in Alaska, I found something in John Green's writing that was a true credit to him: creating a character I didn't exceptionally hate, but did not like, and make me believe they could be real.

One of the true masterstrokes of 'Looking For Alaska' was its view of teenage society and the values that exist in it. The protagonist is not particularly popular but he is also not disliked by his peers. He is simple an average boy, something that is all too rare in YA. I do get a little bored of reading how secretly special someone is after a while, and part of this is that it dismisses any person without this specialness as a character who is not important enough to be a hero. Something I actually adored about Miles' character was his frank nature towards his strengths and weaknesses, and that he never became polarised, becoming neither a dream-boat prince or a friendless loser. His humanness let him act as a perfect reflector and refractor for what was going on around him. Not just the tragedy either, no, the comedy was also put through his lens, and this allowed John Green to, not only immerse, but integrate his reader in his setting, which really helped when trying to (as fully as possible) understand some of the characters. More than anything though, this novel helps explain a very adult subject through a really fantastic perspective, demonstrating how teenagers discover the difference between adult things and adult life.

To conclude and to simply say how much I liked the book would not really be doing it the justice I think I would like to. It is exactly what a Bildungsroman should be, reminding me distinctly of 'The Catcher in the Rye' (a favourite of mine), but it brings the idea forward to a modern view of teenage life that I really enjoyed, despite my dislike of Alaska. Oddly enough, it often felt like she wasn't what I was really looking for -swans away in a cloud of cliché-.