Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter

I’m slipping, saying too much; in a night this deep and strange the boundaries start to blur.

Wow. Would you look at that, here's me, finally back with more reviews, for arcs of books that already came out. Oops.

I love Weird Books.

I love books with worlds so unique that they stick in your brain, with villains so confusing that you squint and wonder, and plots so odd that you’re thinking about them for days after finishing.

This, this here is one of those books. I was super excited to review it before it came out, get the Excitement all ready, but alas, it already came out five days ago. You all should still be excited. It’s an exciting book. Now you don’t have to wait for it to come out and you can go buy it right away, amiright?

But first, I should warn you before you read it. You’ll need a fully stocked Vassa In the Night survival kit.

Genre: Magical Realism

Feelings: ??

Cuteness: There's romance, but it wasn't stand out to me
Fast pacing: Slow paced.
Series: Porter has said it's not, but could potentially change
Read if you like: Weirdness. A lot of bizarre things.
Content: Some unpleasant things along the lines of violence.
 In summary... Vassa has been sent to BY's for lightbults, the walking store, but instead of the in and out trip she plans on, she ends up trapped for three nights in the little store, which doesn't intend on making her life any easier.
Thoughts: Creaking floors..
Trigger Warning: Really it's just the icky bloody things.
Messages: Hope. What will we do with the power we obtain?

Rating: 4/5 maybe 3.5 because while I loved it, I'm still SO CONFUSED.

The Vassa in the Night Survival Kit:

A Warm Hat

Keep cozy while reading this book. At first glance it seems a bit odd. Immediately after reading the first page you’ll notice that. Talking wooden dolls tend to make it pretty clear that this isn’t a normal book you’re about to read. It’s going to move slowly. Not going to lie, I was pretty bored at first. Intrigued, but a bit bored. Give it time. Vassa will lead you right into danger and darkness, you’ll just have to move slowly at first. Keep warm. It’s about to get dark and cold very soon.

A flashlight

This book has a lot of shadowed corners. Magical realism is one of my absolute favorite genres, and this one was done so well. It was perfectly normal for shopkeepers to behead shoplifters. And for stores to walk? Hands moving around (nothing else--just hands) are perfectly normal. There’s plenty to look at here, so make sure you bring a flashlight to keep safe. It’ll get dark. Quickly. The story world is plenty normal. Brooklyn. Teens partying, going about their lives. But there’s also mysterious motorcycles, magic hidden around corners that will take careful eyes and a bit of light to find. There’s nasty fey deals, fences with heads on spikes...surrounding a shopping story dancing around on two giant chicken legs. Nothing normal about this book, so for god's sake...bring. A. Flashlight.

Snacks to share

You’ll meet some great people in this book. Vassa has ended up being one of my favorite characters in YA. I loved her wondering at the oddities in the store, not taking too much time to panic. I loved how she put up with Erg (The smol angsty wooden doll), how she was selfless, and brave, a bit salty and snarky, but in the end a realistic and caring character. Erg, she’s a dear. A spicy little talking wooden doll, but a loving lil thing. Also. So. Very. Hungry. So bring plenty of snacks to share with the people you’ll meet, because there will be plenty.

A Compass

I’m preparing you now, there’s a chance you’ll get lost in this book. It’s a weird one. A complete and utterly weird one. The ending is almost unresolved, rugs being yanked from under you, spontaneous twists and turns, and a lot of close encounters. There’s a lot of hope, as well. Underneath the ,layers of what the actual hell and I’m so very confused, there’s themes of how far we'll go, of how much power we have and what will we do with it? It’s a coming of age story, but filled with disembodied heads, hands, monsters and the Night. You’ll be lost by the time you reach the last page, either loving it or hating it. Either way you’ll need a compass to find your way out again.

At the end of the day, this was one bizarre book. This is for people who like dark, weird fairy tales, magical realism, characters and settings that barely make sense. This is for lovers of strangeities. And this is definitely for people who are prepared.

Furthermore by Taherah Mafi

Alice lived in a time before proper maps, before street signs and numbered homes. She lived in a time when leaving home meant saying good-bye and hoping you'd be able to find your way back. 

Hope, you see, was all she had, and she would hold on to it, come hills or high water.

Middle grade is hard. Growing up it was all I read, seeing as I was in the (surprise!)...middle grade. But as I drifted over into young adult, it became harder and harder to go back to middle grade. The concepts never were delved into enough. The characters seeming more like cartoons, or cutouts. 

I went into Furthermore with high hopes. I haven't read much of Taherah Mafi's work, but from what I heard about her writing, I knew that if anyone could make middle grade amazing, it would be her. 

This book is released on August 30th, 2016

Stats:

Genre:  Middle grade fantasy

Feelings: I felt, but this isn't written to be an emotional disaster

Cuteness: ...middle grade. so like. no romance 

Fast pacing: Not quite an action filled book but I personally never got bored.

Series: .............yes. 

Read if you like: Alice in Wonderland, quirky writing styles, bizarre worlds 

Content: Very limited. Middle grade perks!

Trigger warning? Um. Aggresive paper animals? Missing father, harsh mother, prejudice and vague themes of discrimination.

In summary... Alice wants few things in life: Her father back, and to have a true talent like all the other kids. Instead what she gets is some weird boy showing up and dragging her into another world completely, where hopefully....the truth about her and her father will lie.

Thoughts: Thickly embroidered fabric, layers upon layers of threa and stitching until it's almost too heavy to wear

Messages: Purpose

Overall

Rating: 4/5

FURTHERMORE: A recipe

1: One cup of The Phantom Toolbooth for the aesthetics

The Phantom Toolbooth remains one of my favorite middle grade novels. It's witty, clever, full of odd tidbits and things that are taken Very Literally. When you "jump to conclusions" in this world you literally go flying over to the island of conclusions. 

Furhtermore has that element. Everything has that vibrant feel, the colors and cleverness in simply the way things are named and done. It's very different then The Phantom Toolbooth, but reading it gave me that nostalgic feel. 

2: A pinch of Harry Potter and The Sorcerors Stone, (be sure to remove the Wizard schools) for the story worlds.

The first Harry Potter book has this magic feel to it. The way everyone interacts with eachother at the train station and specifaclally on hogwarts express and diagon alley sucks you in and leaves you smiling simply because it feels so real and so magical. Harry Potter is written in a way that never feels like a book, but a recording of actual places, actual events.

Reading the pages of Furhtermore was like boarding that train one more time because everything felt like a real place. Never did this feel like a poorly developed middle grade book of Concepts. It was a real place. Real people. 

3. A few slices of Alice in Wonderland  for the characters

Lewis Caroll was a crazy maniac. Everyone tries to pick apart Alice in Wonderland but let's be real it's basically just the equivelant of a bunch of random ramblings that were made artsy and clever. Furhtermore's characters specifically made me think of Wonderland. 

Furthermore's Alice has a whole lot more of a personality than Wonderland Alice, but all the characters in Furhtermore had this almost ultra-color sheen over them. Like they all represented odd traits and concepts of a child's imagination. Like Wonderland, all the character's weren't just there as characters, they were there as concepts in and of themselves. They set new definitons and examples for fiction. Every character you met in Furthermore was Big and Bright and had a Reason for being there. And I really appreciated that. 

Everything in Furthermore was strange. And slightly disturbing. Like Wonderland. But better and brighter.

4:  A generous sprinkling of Terry Pratchett  for the writing

Terry Pratchett is pretty much one of the greatest writers I have yet to discver simply because of his prose-work. 

The voice in Furthermore was so distinct and witty, that while it wasn't a Terry Pratcheet exact voice, it was the perfect voice for the story. Just as Terry's dry prose was perfect for the Discworld books, Taherah's prose and voice is so perfect for the world of Furthermore. Her random inerjecations and comments as the narrator make you grin, her descriptions make you swoon, her humor makes you love every second you spend in these pages. Basically, Taherah has acheived something Terry acheived and I, as a writer, deeply wish I could acheive. She has made a voice her own and made it work so impossibly well for a story and concept that you couldn't imagine the story told my anyone else.


Combine these elements and bake over a multicolored fire, add in a few sprinkles and measure with a yard stick to make sure the product is exactly the size it needs to be. If you followed this recipe correctly, it will have been much too short. Which means, you'll have to tune in next time for the second addition to this recipe. (hint: there is a sequel)



In short, Furthermore is one of the more fun books I've read this year. It's defintely the best middle grade I've read in a long time. It's rich, colorful, dakr, distburning and whimsical all at once. I don't have a whole lot to complain about it, to be perfectly honest. If you're a fan of middle grade or a fan of any of the books listed above, check this one out. 

Get lost in Furthermore. Never come out, if you so please.

I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

I never believed Noah and I shared a soul, that mine was half a tree with its leaves on fire, like he said. I never felt like my soul was something that could be seen. it felt like motion, like taking off, like swimming toward the horizon or diving off a cliff or making flying women out of sad, out of anything.

It's me again!! 

Hi!

As promised, here I am finally with another review. Life has punched me in the face with a sign that reads "HERE I AM! LOVE ME!". It has teamed up with Stress and Confusion to wreck havoc in my life.

But I will prevail and continue to Read Books and Do the Blog Thing! And also capitalize Words unnecessarily.

A while ago, I was google chatting with Linnea and Marissa. Linnea and I were reading Reign of Shadows (Review to come very soon!) while Marissa, the little rebel, was reading I'll Give You The Sun and weeping. 

Well that inspired me to go find my copy tucked away on my shelves and read it. Which resulted in my staring in shock at my ceiling at two in the morning (it's always 2am)

Genre:  Contemporary

Feelings: YES

Cuteness: YES

Fast pacing: The way this book is formatted makes it difficult to justify putting it down.

Series: Nope

Read if you like: Siblings, art, colors and forgiveness

Content: Gay character. Lots of kissing. Some discussion of various body parts. Affair stuff.

Trigger warning? Suicide, bullying, loss of a parent

In summary...His chapters are when they’re fourteen, her chapters are years later. They both have two sides of a story, and back and forth, it will be revealed what happened in those years between to ruin their relationship.

Thoughts: Dried up pain, stone dust, ocean waves crashing on a cliff. Capital Letters.

Messages: A lot. Forgiveness, regret, dealing with grief. This book has A Lot.

Rating: 5/5 stars

I cannot. I do not. Where to begin?

This book has a Soul. A soul that has proved to not be for everyone, but it’s one that snuck it’s way into my heart. Something about the relationships. Something about the colors. The way the story wove itself, the way it clung to you long after the last page.

-The Characters-

I Have So Much Trouble Liking Characters. How many times can I say this? I write in first person but for some reason as soon as a story is written in first person it feels very hard for me to like them. This story has TWO first person perspectives and I adored both characters.

I fell for them. I felt for them. I loved the spirit, the struggle, the strength. The snark and wit. The way they reacted to those around them. Also I adore siblings. And this story had such a conflicting, difficult, wonderful siblingship that I don’t think I’ll be forgetting anytime soon.

-The Writing and Plot-

OH.

Oh.

Can we just talk about the narrative? I have never been so entertained while reading a story ever. Nelson has this way with words that transports you right into these characters brains, even if those places are scary sometimes.

Can we just talk about the Plot? The twists and turns? The angst? The ending?

Can we just talk about the Book?? This story is structured so wonderfully. The book consists of two pov’s as mentioned, but there’s not a lot of switches because each chapter is quite long. Some being as long as 60 pages. Which means after the first two, you think, “WAIT GOTTA READ ONE MORE CHAPTER.” But then it leaves you hanging so you read one more.

Then you’re over halfway through.

This is why I read it in one night/morning.

The idea of a story being told through past/present, the back and forth, is one that’s been used before but this book took such a different approach to it, one that worked so well for the story. I cannot even. Bye.

-Messages and Other-

I cannot sum up simply what this book means, what this book is saying. I just know it’s saying a lot. It’s got so much that will speak to so many people. But not everyone.

It’s one of those books that is going to find the right hands to be in.

Some hands will enjoy it, setting it on their shelf to look at fondly.

Some hands will dislike it. Shrug, say “eh” and put it back.

Some hands will clutch it once it’s over. They will soak up every word.

It’s a book that has a Soul, and the only way to know if that Soul is for you, is to go and read it.

Find a copy.

Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevieve Tucholke

The dark. It was thick as drying blood, so thick I could have held it in my hands, if they were free, palms filled with it. I could feel the blackness breathing, panting, panting, the dark, the dark, the dark.

Good heavens.

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea was a book I was a bit "Eh?" about, but learned to love, simply because of how much Linnea loved it. 

Well then Wink Poppy Midnight's synopsis came out and I needed it.

So needless to say, when I received an arc, I cried a lot.

Warning: Very vague review. This book is dense even in it's 260 pages. It's hard to review.

This book will be released March 22nd 2016

Stats:

Genre:  ?????????????

Feelings: HAHAHAHAH -dies-

Happiness: Um

Cuteness: UM

Fast pacing: Paced wonderfully

Series: Nope

Read if you like: The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma. Poetic prose, dark deep twisted stories, with dark twisted characters 

Content: Plenty of sex, but nothing graphic or described.

Trigger warning? Suicide talk. Psychological fear

In one sentence... Two girls, one boy, secrets, forests, and how far someone will go.

Thoughts: Strawberries, splinters, wood, mud, ice cold water and silk. The smell of hay, the feel of old book pages under your fingers

Messages: ???

Overall

Rating: 5/5

I had few expectations. I knew it'd be amazing, but I was so confused as to if it'd be paranormal or realistic or what??

I was instantly smacked in the face with sense and descriptions and words. My face was the :O during most of it. 

-The characters-

Oh my. These characters. Their flaws and quirks and Midnight. 

Midnight, sweetheart. His poor good soul and his confusion and how lost that child is. His voice stood out. Then came Wink, with her freckles and curls and whimsy. And then Poppy. Poppy, Poppy, Poppy, her lies and anger. 

The voices were so strong. Midnight was reading nostalgia, Wink was reading fairy tales, and Poppy was reading salt. 

These characters stood out and even with as nasty or blind they could be I loved them. 

April has a knack for taking characters who do terrible things and making you somehow care, even if distantly. I should have been rageful at Poppy, to the point where I stopped reading but instead I cared. 

-The writing/structure-

April. Genevieve. Tucholke.

This woman knows how to write books. She knows how to spin webs and capture you and keep you there. Her writing flows, one word after the other. It reads like poetry but feels like something darker and more real. 

The story is like this collection of events that keep getting bigger and BIGGER AND BIGGER and it works. Nothing feels slow and disjointed, even with it's lack of the standard Obvious Story Starting Events and Things. 

To say I couldn't put it down is an understatement. I was being fit for my formal dress and my mom's trying to fit the skirt and she's maneuvering around me while I hold this book, frantically flipping pages.

-Other

The setting. It felt so vibrant and strong, each detail about it captured this image. This place, and this forest, and the hayloft. It felt so intensely real and it supported the story in the strongest way. 

This book is one that is full of teens being nasty and good and having too much dirt flung at them. It's rich. It's a story of drama that never feels dramatic. 

I don't know how she does it?? 

You look at this story and even read the synopsis and think "is this a dramatic love triangle paranormal" but the story behind those covers is something so much bigger? 

It's definitely not for everyone. It's vaguely edgy, new, raw and something some people may not be insane about, but this story snaked it's grip around my wrists and I definitely won't stop thinking about it for a good while.

A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz

There's a big difference between hating someone in peace and hating someone during war

This book comes out August fourth. I was hoping to review it way before it came out but I got so swamped with NaNo and life. But here we go! My first ARC review!

Stats:

Genre:  Fantasy

Feelings: Not really, actually

Happiness: Eh

Cuteness: Did not ship anything. Like. How many people is Beckan gonna make out with?

Fast pacing: Slow, but still it did a good job of engaging me

Series: Nope

Read if you like: ...Weird books. Unique fae type things,

Content: LOLOLOL what does this book NOT have.
a) cursing? Check. A lot of it.
b) Sex? Definitely. Nothing graphic and most of it off page.
c) Prostitute faeries? Why not.
b) Lesbian? Yep. Totally caught me off guard. Like. Wot.
c) Violence? You could say. It's just got some weird concepts
d) Thematic elements? lololol yes

In one sentence... Told back and forth from past and present, a very unreliable narrator tells the story of Beckan and her friends, and the struggles and conflicts with gnomes and other creatures, filling in the gaps with whatever he wishes.

Thoughts: glitter and dirt

Messages: It's kind of got some really neat family vibes here. And a lot about honesty. 

Overall:

Rating: 3/5

This review is SPOILER FREE

The Lovely Bits:

This was...a weird book. I am so conflicted about it. More so then I ever have been.

-Characters-

What was Beckan. See, I saw her from our narrators POV. And our narrator was...special. Beckan was spirited and crazy, but still realistic. She was a damaged, far from perfect character and I had fun reading about her. But I still don't think I'll really care about her.

Then there's Tier, the weirdo. Piccolo, who was random but totally fascinating. And Scrap. Scrap made me feel feelings.

See, there's no character that really stand out. I'll have to give it to Hannah Moskowitz. She knows how to write some crazy realistic damaged characters in a story with as many crazy concepts as this one did. Each one was so...human. Which was surprising, giving they were faeries, gnomes and tightropers. These were some nasty people. Nasty, sad, hurting. 

You have to give me a tiny break because I just got back from a writing workshop and I'm noticing more successes in books. This story had a very big struggle, a very good thing for a book.

-Writing and Structure-

The story just had...such cool concepts. Seriously. I love weird concepts. And this story had a lot of them. The worldbuilding, though sparse, was really fascinating. There was little description but there were just enough hints dropped that I could paint a picture of what I pictured it to look like and I loved that. This is one of those books where I am happy about the lack of descriptions.

The story had very little Big Events, but it did such a good job of getting into your head. I think it's good that it was short. It's hard to pull off a "no the writer did not write this the character did" book but Moskowitz did this so masterfully. It felt like someone had actually found this old notebook with the story in it and typed it up. I read this on a weekend trip and half the time forgot I was sitting curled up in a bunk bed at the beach because I was so tangled in this story.

-Messages and other-

This is a light-theme book, but the themes it does have were beautiful when you dug them out. There was a lot about redemption, and war, and recovery. All of it fit well with these characters.

The Less Lovely Bits

For as much as I loved it, there was a lot I didn't care for.

Okay. First off. It was just weird. I mean, I love weird books. I live for weird books. I write weird books. 

I think what happened is I really didn't know what to expect. I did not expect prostitute faeries that swear every single sentence. I did not expect this wacky world, these wacky characters. Everything was so random. And on one hand, it added to the texture of the story and the whole " a character wrote this not the author" vibe, but it also felt off.

There were definitely some scenes that just felt extremely random. As stated above, there is a gay scene towards the end. I didn't get it. I'm sorry, it's not that I had a problem, it was just that I really didn't get why it needed to be there. 

I don't know, man. This book is a weird one. I think a lot of people can really care about it. It's a concept and character driven book. But that's the problem.

You have to care about the characters to enjoy the book. If you don't, you'll hate the book. And if the character are impossible to dislike that's fine. But I can see how it would be easy to dislike this cast, which is what makes it a tricky book.

See, there was nothing blatantly bad about this book. Nothing that made me a Rage Monster and want to burn it. There was nothing truly wrong. The whole story as a whole just didn't sit perfect for me as a person. This can be different for everyone. 

I honestly thought this was a debut at first. Because I didn't know going in this was written as a character-written-book so it felt very off. As I got into it, I saw more clearly what Moskowitz was trying to do, but starting out it seemed like she had written a NaNoWriMo and published it without edits. (But I do seriously know that's not true because if all NaNo first drafts were like this then we'd be all lucky)



Overall, I did like it. I defintly found myself thinking about it a lot, even if it was less fondly then I wanted. If you can handle some randomness, I'd give it a shot. It really was a fun book.