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.

This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab

"And which am I?" Asked August, pulling away. "Your weakness, or your strength?" 

Emily's warm brown eyes went wide and flat as the truth spilled out. "Both."

MONSTERS.

Amiright?

Monsters.

There's some books that stride into your life and then beat the crap out of you. This is that book. And if
 you stay tuned, I can show you just how this book found all my weakness and left me in a little puddle of nothingness.

This book releases on July 5th, 2016

Genre:  Post apocalyptic paranormal horror

Feelings: Did I mention this book slapped me in the face repeatedly? 

Cuteness: -clear throat- This ship. I will go down with it. [Insert that captain jack sparrow gif. you know the one]

Fast pacing: Yes. Things keep happening, even if this is a plot-light book

Series: Two book series

Read if you like: Supernatural. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by April Tuchlocke. Shallow Graves. The setting of Legend.

Content: Violence, mainly. There blood. The killings of monsters and humans. Blooood. That's all I remember.

Trigger warning? Family members loss. Touches of abusive relationships. 

In summary... He's a monster. She hunts them. They both are monstrous, they both live in a monstrous world. And it's crumbling. 

Thoughts: The pluck of violin strings. Hard stone and flickering lights.

Messages: Differences between two humans, identity not defining identity.

Rating: 4.75/5 Very close five stars. PRACTICALLY five stars

-The Characters-

I'm calm. I'm calm. I will calmly express my love fore these characters. Oh who am I kidding. I will screech it from the rooftops. 

AUGUST! KATE! 

First punch to the face: Identity. I love characters who struggle with their very identity. I love characters who want something even if they're aware that something is probably not good for them. I love characters with good hearts but bad experiences that have turned them cold.

August and Kate were those characters who were so similar even though they were so different. They each struggled with the same things more or less, but from their different lifestyles and personalities they went about it so differently. But worked so well together. 

Reactions to the first meeting of Kate: Yes. Yes yes, go burn down that church lil' anger bean

Reactions to the first meeting of August: Little rapunzel music-bean. 

Kate. How she tries so hard to be tough, cruel, and pulls it off but at a cost. And August. August is a little violin playing doughnut. 'Nuff said.

Swift kick in the shin: THEY WERE SO SAD. They hated and loved and wanted to be so much better.

Oooh my. And side characters. No one seemed underdeveloped to me. There were some we didn't see enough of to see their souls, but everyone was clearly depicted. I'm so excited to see where this story goes.

-Plot and Writing-

Aggressive pummeling to the nose: AESTHETICS.

Can we just talk about the aesthetics of the story? The violin strings, the metal nails, the darkness, street lights, stone steps, charcoal eyes and shadows. Everything fit together, everything melded into it's own song. 

I do wish there had been a bit more explanation early on. It was confusing, seeing as Chapter one made it seem like modern day, kinda supernatural-like, but then chapter two was clearly a different world. The world is clearly well-developed, but I didn't get it explained soon enough. And while sometimes that's done on purpose, in this case I was left confused. I had to go back to the blurb a few times, check the genres on goodreads, to kinda place myself a bit more so I didn't get too out of it. 

I don't have much to say about the plot. Partly because there wasn't much? Like, there was plot. But all the "OH THIS IS A PROBLEM" type things came much later in the book. In this case, this is a duology and I think it works, but if it hadn't been for my love for the characters right at page one, there wouldn't have been much for me to keep reading for.

Elbow straight to the stomach: Writing. Victoria can write. Her words fit this setting so well, painting this picture of blood and stone and claws. Writing was on point. Setting was on point, I just wanted to see more of it. Visuals were so clearly depicted I wanted to paint them on my walls.

-Messages and Others-

This book took a lot of tropes that I adore, smooshed them into a book with the types of aesthetics and moods I adore and baked it on high for a couple hours to make this beautiful song that I thoroughly enjoyed.

 It also got in a couple punches, left a few bruises, but I forgive it.

Good books that beat you up are easy to forgive. 


Overall, this is another solid book, another to go on the list of favorites, another to anticipate the release of, another to fling at all my horror-lovers. 

Wow look at this handy dandy link to it's amazon page. Only 10 dollars to preorder the hardback? Wow! You see that add-to-cart button?

Click it. Do the thing. 

Did you do it? Good. 

The Star Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi

"Tell me, my queen, are you ready to play with fate?"

Do you know how hard it was to pick a quote to start this out?

So many quotes. 

So many things.

I swear I'll be eloquent about this book in this review, even though my current emotion is OHMYGODMYHEARTICANNOTBYEILOVETHISBOOK. 

You know how it goes.

This review will be possibly long but. I have a lot to say about this book. SO I AM GOING TO SAY IT.

This book is released on April 26th, 2016

Genre:  Fantasy

Feelings: Not as many WOW I'M SAD feelings but there are some.

Cuteness: Yes with a capital Y.

Fast pacing: Nawww but after I got into it and got to the Things I didn't care.

Series: ?????????????????

Read if you like: Indian folklore. The sort of setting that books like "The Forbidden Wish" That like sandy feel. And the sari and silk and !!!! 

Content: Kissy kissy. Some potential aggressive cuddling but it never goes that far.

Trigger warning? Some verbal abuse type situations. Family and parents are distant and unloving. Loss of family members.

In summary...She has been cursed with a horoscope that promised death and destruction everywhere she goes. There's no escape, or so it seems. A mysterious stranger, a lot of magical power, horses, and intrigue ensue. 

Thoughts: Blood on sand. Parchment, and thread

Rating: 5/5 stars

This Review is Spoiler Free

How does one begin with this novel. I don’t even know where to begin. I started it with much excitement, which then started to fade. I’ll admit, I wasn’t as wowed as it continued. The beginning was gorgeous, the setting flawless, the story intriguing. But then, the romance started, and the excitement died down. I loved the romance. But where was the big kabams I wanted? The big bang pow? 

I’ve never been so glad that I stuck with a novel. It blew me away.

-The Characters-

Maya.  Maya is the main character I have been itching for. Strong. Bitter. Determined. Not so unrealistically strong that she turns aside the temptation of power. She makes so many mistakes but never lets those stop her. Her voice was steady, struggling. I never once got bored of her narrating. Except those times I wanted the horse to narrate.

Amar. Oh, Amar. His good and bad. And more bad and a lot of good. The little grumpy brood bean. With the hair. And the poeticness that makes me laugh. And the darkness that settles in. He was such a fascinating character. Subconsciously I kept trying to “trope” him. Label him as “Evil Bad Guy Love Interest.” Or “Brooding Bad Boy” or “Looks like Could Kill You But Is Cinnamon Roll”. But he never fit any. Because there was none.

He was Amar.

He was him.

Him was Amar.

I like Amar.

Moving on. Other character. The other’s weren’t quite as intriguing, although many of the characters we meet are quite lovable. There just wasn’t enough of them to explode off the page.

Except Kamala. Kamala guys. The horse. Who may or may not plan on eating you but you love anyway. I want one.

-Plot And Writing-

I need about 4000 of Roshani’s books asap. Like. Roshani. YOUR WORDS. THEY MAKE ME SO HAPPY. I’m not a huge writer of fantasy, given the disaster my fantasy novel was. But after reading this it’s all I want to write.

Roshani has this way of words.  They fit this aesthetic of the story so wonderfully. They feel like sand, soft and flowing from a distance, until you pick up a handful and the grit gets everywhere and sticks to you. But then you bury yourself into it and it’s quite comfortable.

Prose goals.

(Also like we’ve totally talked back and forth on twitter so we’re PRACTICALLY besties. Coolest author ever. Go follow her)

Plotwise, this one is a slowburn. It could be that I was in a slump when I picked it up, but as soon as the initial inciting incident was over, I wasn’t as excited. I even told Linnea that. “Nothing Big is happening??”

But then.

It did.

Things started getting creepy and weird and making me put down the book and whisper “what the crap” to myself.

Then The Thing happened which I won’t talk about. But The Thing happened. Then the Other Thing happened. And One More Things.

So many Things happened in the latter half of this book, that I realized just how important and good that slowburn start was.  Granted, some of the Things didn’t get discussed as much as I thought? Who knows, perhaps there is plan for a sequel. The ending was so sudden and fast there could be. (I hope there is.) But that’s my one complaint. I will obsess over these Things till the day I die.

-Messages and Other-

My favorite types of books are books that don’t take so much time to tell you Lots of Important Things and Messages and yet still just say things.

This is one of those books.

There’s never any EMBRACE YOURSELF !!!!! or UR BEUATIFUL themes flung at you. And yet this story is what it is. A story of two people who will do everything for each other even though it takes them a while to see it. A story of a girl who has been cast aside and told she was the cause of every problem her entire life who finally got up and said “No. I am my own queen. My own person. And you cannot define me like that.”

It’s a story about not being controlled or defined by labels or mistakes, but it never needs to rub it in your face and say it outright for you to see it.

And I love books like that.

Overall…

I don’t even know what to say overall.

OVERALL JUST GO PREORDER IT.

Go.

Open amazon.

Have you done it yet?

….

Did you preorder?

Yes?

Good.