Jatta

by Jenny Hale

Jatta is a princess in the kingdom of Alteeda, but her life is no fairy tale.

Her mother was slain by werewolves when Jatta was three years old, and the palace has been haunted by fear ever since.

Then Jatta wakes one morning, bruised and disoriented , soaked in sweat, to see her bedroom smeared with bloody paw prints …

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal, Mystery, Childrens, Werewolves

480 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2009

About the author

Jenny is an established illustrator and author of children’s picture books, with 20 titles and a million copies in print. Before publishing, she spent 18 years as an advertising illustrator and copywriter. She lives with her husband and writes from a long marble table overlooking Sydney’s bushland.

Reviews

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a prime example of a distinctive cover catching my eye and saying, "Take me home, go on, take me, you know you want to" - I never have a hope in hell of resisting such a lure. Sometimes, it really doesn't work out (like with Wither ), but sometimes it does - and when it does, it's so worth it.

Jatta is a princess and the only daughter of King Elisind, ruler of Alteeda. With two older brothers, Steffed and Arthmael, and no mother, she's the baby of the family at only fourteen years old. When she wakes one morning lying on the hard marble floor of her bedroom, covered in blood, with destruction all around her and her father crying over her, she's troubled and confused. Elisind tells her that wolves - werewolves from Dartith (also called the Dark Isle) - came in the night and her favourite brother Arthmael is injured. The royal physician gives her a blue potion to drink to help her sleep, but the idea of werewolves from the kingdom's greatest enemy, attacking her brother, rouses Jatta's curiosity. With her best friend Sanda, she sneaks into her father's study to find out what everyone seems not to be telling her.

The truth is devastating to Jatta, but everything makes a lot more sense now. None of it really helps her though, for the Dark King of Dartith, Brackensith - he who killed her mother when Jatta was just a baby - has returned to claim Jatta as bride for his son and heir, Drake ... and taken the entire kingdom as hostage until she delivers herself from hiding. With her brother Arthmael, Jatta desperately seeks out the kingdom's sorcerer, Redd, only to discover another lie that's been lurking in Alteeda for a long time. Left with no recourse but to use their own wits and summon their own bravery, the two siblings embark on a dangerous adventure to defeat their enemy and rescue their beloved kingdom, and their family, from the clutches of a merciless king who rules with darkness, terror, vampires and werewolves.

This classic Fantasy adventure story - rife with magic, dragons, trickery, familial love, danger and more - reminded me of Julia Golding's Dragonfly , in the sense that both are for a slightly younger YA audience than today's popular YA books, both are extremely well-written and highly enjoyable fantasy stories, and both have wonderful main characters that are well-developed, who mature as the story progresses, and who you really come to care for. If you liked Dragonfly, or you like YA Fantasy that doesn't have much romance or silly love triangles or teenage angst, then I definitely recommend this gem of a story (which would also be a good one to read aloud to kids at bedtime - or maybe during daylight, as it is a bit scary at times!).

Hale, an Australian children's author and illustrator, has with Jatta crafted a perfect tale for older audiences, and while the beginning was a little slow at first, I wouldn't want a thing changed. It's quite clear from the beginning - to adults at least - what Jatta's big secret is, the one that she's not even aware of, but there are plenty of other surprises in the story to keep you guessing. Its darkness was perfectly balanced by moments of sheer comedy, like when they visit Sorcerer Redd, or the scenes with Brackensith's oldest son, Riz, a spoilt little boy in a grown man's body who wants to be heir and betray his father but who is ruled by his own temper tantrums.

Jatta is an undeniably strong female lead and a great role model. At first, she's young, easily frightened, horrified at what's going on and feels helpless. But as she begins her adventure alongside her brother, and her mettle is tested, she really starts to come into her own. Not only that, but she learns courage and makes some adult decisions that essentially see her sacrificing her own freedom for a greater good: to save the kingdom's people. Her self-sacrifice, and her imaginative plans for escaping later, make her brave, clever, resourceful, compassionate and altogether wonderful - without being goody-goody, sickening, or any other adjective that makes you feel nauseated by a too-perfect heroine. Jatta's far from perfect, and her plans don't always work out. But she has the courage to try.

Arthmael was another great character, and I loved the strong brother-and-sister team. He's an older teenager, and this adventure/dangerous quest also helps him grow into a man. He's the only character to find a wee bit of romance, in Brackensith's daughter, but it's not a prominent part of the story and is handled very tastefully. All the characters are colourful without being over-the-top, and entertaining in both their deeds and misdeeds. Even Brackensith shows moments of being not so black-and-white, though he is quite the villain.

The world in which this Fantasy takes place is also fantastically realised. There's no map, but you don't need one - it all becomes quite clear in your head, which is rare for a mapless Fantasy. It's a traditional Fantasy world but realised with great imagination, and the characters really add flesh to it. The Dark Isle, Dartith, is a more unusual creation, and a very miserable place it is too, that adds a dash of horror to the story. I'll leave it to you to discover it on your own. ;)

Overall, Jatta is an absolute joy to read, a wonderful change from the popular YA novels currently being churned out by publishers desperate to cash in on the latest fads, the kind of story I loved when I was a kid and have always wished to find more of. It's a winner.

[Madelin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still one of my favourite books. Just the right mixture of fantasy, magic, adventure and horror. I love this book so much. But I can't actually believe the reviews it's getting. People are whinging about how Jatta was annoying- but they don't understand the context. Jatta was a princess, she never had to do anything for herself- you can't blame her for not knowing how to dress herself or deal with the fact that she's been cursed. She is also thrown into horrific situations at the ripe old age of 14 and people are annoyed at her reactions? She's a CHILD. People are also accusing Hale's writing of being convoluted and confusing... I just don't see it. If you have horrendous comprehension skills maybe, but that's not anyone's fault but their own. I read this book when I was 8 and I understood it fine, so obviously it's not the book that has the problem. People also called the ending predictable. Really? Well you're the fucking Notre Dames if you saw that ending coming- maybe you could have predicted some of the end result. But no way you predicted how it would happen. And another thing people accuse this book of being is boring. Boring. Oh my god. Yup sure was boring when she (spoilers)










escaped a dragon. Sure was boring when she found herself in an ancient dragon graveyard. Sure was boring when she turned into a fucking werewolf and destroyed a bunch of shit, when Arthmael stole back the orb, when Jatta almost ate Riz, when they walked through a wall of fire containing trapped souls in dragon scale suits, when Jatta beat the shit out of Riz. No. this story was totally boring. overall Jatta was amazing

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

One thing which I really loved about this novel was the main female protagonist, and the book's namesake, Jatta. She grew extraordinarily through the novel, from being shy and wealthy and not questioning the things her father told her, to being independent, able to strike out on her own. I also felt that the relationships between Jatta and the other characters - especially her older brother Arthmael, who was incredibly frustrating at times, but who was only looking out for his sister - really made this novel great.

I loved the world which Jenny Hale created in this book, were all sorts of scary and fantastic beasts existed, as well as magic. It's difficult not to give anything away, but there's a chapter a bit into the book where Jatta and Art go to see the sorcerer, and I thought it was really fantastic.

It was a bit long-winded in parts, and I felt there were a few unnecessary passages, making an already long book long. However, I'm usually more inclined to shorter books, and I'll admit to the fact that I prefer books set in the real world. If you are a person who primarily loves fantasy, this novel is in all ways a wonderful, unmissable read.

With Jatta growing so much as a character, a fair bit of the novel was made up of conversations and chapters of non-action, which were really quite refreshing when plenty of action scenes surround it. But those scenes of action were fantastic too - I found Jatta's transformation and time as a wolf to especially well-written (and such a contrast to Jatta as a girl).

In Jatta, Jenny Hale has created a fantastic mythical world and deeply enjoyable novel. I think this book will appeal to fantasy fans of all ages, and if you're interested in a magical read, you should definitely check it out.

[Ash · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a general rule, I never give up on a book. I believe that each book has some redeeming quality that earns it the right to be read from begining to completion, I must admit I found it terribly difficult to get into Jatta, the first two hundred pages seemed to drag on forever and at times some of the content seemed rather pointless and made me want to give up on this book. Well I can say I'm glad I did not give up on this book. Why? The ending, the last three hundred or so pages really picked up the pace and it was more interesting and thrilling that the pages before.

Jatta as a character really begins to develop, as does Art. I must say I have not read a book with such a strong female protagonist in such a long time, the last book may very well have been The Mortal Instruments Trilogy, and well that was almost a year ago! I found the ending of this book rather gripping and after neglecting it for so long I am rather ashamed that I finished in under a day after weeks of it sitting half finished upon my beside table.

Overall it was a good read, different and the idea certainly has merit, but for the begining which I found difficult to read it earns from me:

3 Stars.

[Bettina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jatta grew on me. It got quite dark at the end, which I liked. It's about a girl cursed to be a werewolf, who is really too dangerous for her own family and the palace where she lives as a princess. So, she's obliged to hide herself away in this kingdom where all sorts of evil things lurk. It's called the Dark Isle, because it only ever sees six hours of daylight each day. The Undead who help rule it prefer the extended night, but that means the crops fail and its people are starving. Great atmosphere. Real foreboding. I loved Jatta, who had this steep learning curve. She wasn't feisty. God, I'm sick of feisty. Just shy, clever and resourceful.

[Kristyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Saw the cover in Dymocks, liked the idea of a girl haunted by a werewolf without anything redeeming in it, just blackouts and a load of destruction left behind. Didn't think I'd get so into the book. It's amazing. A fantasy where you just fall in love with the characters, but it's scary and packed with strange crises, too. Like when Jatta rides inside a dragon's mouth, or gets lost for days in a labyrinth. And it's so unpredictable. You never know how Jatta and Arthmael will escape, and they keep getting things wrong, and end up in deeper ***.
My favourite read since Hunger Games.

[Aleixie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't really like it.

The beginning was boring.

The middle was boring.

The ending predictable.

The characters were boring.

The plot was boring.

The book was boring.

The beginning took forever to develop.

When I was supposed to give a fuck and care for the heroin....

....I couldn't master any fucks to give.

In all? Boring.

In part? Plotless.

Emotionally? No fucks to give.

^^

[Amanda Weidensjö · Rating 5 out of 5]

I`ve had this book for a few years and i've never read it. But was I surprised when I started reading this book! it was amazing and truly a work of art. It's imaginative and everything you wouldn't expect the protagonist to go through. I loved this book!

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot of this book was genuinely interesting, the concept was good even if the world building was a little lacking. All of the pieces of a great story were there but the biggest issue with this book was that it reads like a first draft.

The writing style is mediocre, with one of the biggest issues being the overuse of adverbs. Almost every verb had an adverb tacked onto it which became annoying and interrupted the flow of the story. The adverbs became ridiculous and too flowery, for example, things were done: cocketishly and ingradiatingly. Sometimes the words weren't even used in the correct context, like when they described their meal as delicious and gamey which are opposites. Or when the author described a character with an attractive voice as sounding like an oboe, 'cause we all know how sexy the oboe is...

I wish I could tell the author: the thesaurus has not been your friend in this book!

The characters grew on me, even if Art's entire personality was protecting women and nothing deeper, and Jatta was described as clever but it took her half the book to start actually doing anything clever. By the end I liked them and there were some really great scenes that were written well! The ending was satisfying and enjoyable.

Overall the overuse of adverbs, speaking tags, and overcomplicated, out-dated vocabulary gave the book a feeling of being unedited. I think the plot is imaginative but it needed a lot more fine tuning in order to be a 5 star read.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Review written as a teen around 2009/10 - probably not how I'd feel about this book if I read it now!

Sounds like an exciting plot, right? It is... but its a shame that the story doesn't live up to it. The story seems slow in parts, and the author, Jenny Hale, tends to skip over descriptions in important scenes; bringing general confusion to the reader as to how something suddenly happened. I was indifferent to the first 200 or so pages before the story finally made me want to read it.

One thing I CANNOT stand is an annoying main character. In this book Jatta, the main character, annoys me quite a bit. Being a princess she has many chambermaids, without whom she is too ignorant to function. She is unsure of how to dress herself and has no understanding of money and its value. Though these may be minor things, they annoy me to no end. Her personality is very dull and uninteresting though by the end of the book her character has improved.

That all being said, JATTA does have a unique take on werewolves and the undead (which are basically vampires). There are other interesting characters, her brother Prince Arthmael for example. The book does put the characters in trying circumstances and making them choose the "right" thing to do in moral dilemmas.

I'd give this book 2 and a 1/2 stars out of five. Its an enjoyable read in the end, but nothing exceptional."

[CJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, this is a book that takes a bit to build up to a cool adventure. It's kinda like Froze (yes, the Disney movie) on pacing. You don't realize how long the beginning is until you put it down and see your bookmark, also a little wordy at the beginning with little help on how to pronounce anything in the book, result in some... humorous names and places on my end. Overall, I think I'd read this only twice before getting bored with it.

Summery;

The beginning: too long, but also felt very short.

The middle: fun and entertaining with some cool concepts

The climax: really nice, but the fighting felt slow to me.

The end: I thought it was a nice ending.

[troublingtrash · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book put me in a reading slump, and it's not even a bad book, it's actually quite interesting once you get past the first 2/3s of it. I do think that the pacing is extremely slow and that it's about 150 pages longer than it really needs to be.

Not much else I really want to say, mostly because I spent a whole month on it and I feel sluggish thinking about it. :)

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading this book. I've probably have read over 20 times

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a great book. Loved the story, the characters, and it ended beautifully. I look forward to reading other books from this author.

[Kaila · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting the worst when I started reading JATTA. All I knew was that it had a werewolf concept which I usually keep away from (especially since this is young adult).
But it turns out Jenny Hale's idea of the werewolf is actually something that I liked and that made it easier to keep reading.

Jatta is a princess cursed as a werewolf (that's not a spoiler, it's obvious in the blurb),for years her wolf hasn't been any trouble until it attacks her brother, but of course she doesn't know it was her at first. After she and her brother are forced to leave the palace because the king from the Dark Isle is coming for her, she must travel with Arthmael to seek help, only for more dangers to come along the way. It's a kind of a 'point A to point B' book with some detours every now and then, and the detours are plot points.


The book had some interesting ideas, but unfortunately most of them aren't really expanded on. One example their world isn't very clear to me, it just feels like it's incomplete. The book also has a habit of making a character seem like they are going to be relevant in the story, only for them to never be mentioned again (with a few exceptions), for some there is no explanation to where they went either, I just had to assume they died. It's a real shame since some of them were pretty interesting.

I did however love most of the names of characters and places, again the werewolf mythology (though it was very simple), and the characters are fairly likable, but unfortunately it did have a few things that bugged me personally.

1) There is one part much earlier on that had me completely wondering what the writer was smoking when she wrote that scene. It didn't please me because of how out of tone it is with the rest of the book, creative as it was. Also it was hard to picture, something that occurs a lot during the book.

2) In the later chapters Jatta and her brother, Arthmael come across a character that I felt was tacked on. Although she is very interesting and she could have been a great character, it's ruined by a completely unbelievable 'romance' between her and Arthmael.
Not only is she dead, but the relationship starts without telling the readers.
She actually mentions that she can't bare his children in front of him and his sister and I'm just wondering "Who asked you to?"
At one point it does say he likes her, but never says that they decided to become an item. That subplot comes to a very anticlimactic end, and you have to wonder, "When the hell did they get together???"

Also she's dead... It bothers me...


Too bad it's not very thrilling, and the most interesting part for me was in the last couple of chapters when they were in the 'Dark Isle.'
It's just those pet peeves that stop me from rating it higher. I'd recommend the book to anyone who likes a fantasy adventure without thinking too critically about what they are reading.

[Muse Here · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book I never would have picked up on my own. However, since Shannon rated it 5 stars (and that's a very rare occurrence) I went ahead and got it. It was definitely better than I thought it would be. (Since, I'm not really into wolf/werewolf stories.) Just not my thing, personally. That said, this was extremely well written.
The characters were very likable, easy to relate to and believable. I loved that no one was perfect. Not her father, who tried to protect her, by sheltering her (never a good call for a parent, imo), not the main character, not her adoring brother, who was an awesome secondary character. But even on the evil side, none of those characters were perfectly evil. Not the evil king, who learned to at least respect Jatta, not any of his sons and not even the bad wizard. All the characters in this delightful tale were well rounded and diverse. Each one had redeeming qualities and each one had negative traits. I really enjoyed that aspect. It's more difficult to hate someone who appears evil, when you can see their reasoning and how they came to reach that point. I even had to give sympathy points to the one character who creeped me out (Riz, I think is his name). I really liked the evil wizard; Andro Mogon, I loved that we got to hear his side of the story, which included not only choices that led his heart to being filled with evil and why, but also some endearing, heartfelt memories as well. And the way Hale tied it all together was simply genius.
There was plenty of action throughout. And the ending, I did not think was predictable AT ALL! I did not see that coming. Even in hind sight, I can now see how she was headed there in a round about sort of way, I just did not see it coming. So it was a nice surprise and a very enjoyable ending. I actually really loved the ending, so satisfying. Were this one of my top genres, I would have easily given it four, possibly even 5 stars.
I'm giving this to my two oldest daughters to read, cuz it was a great YA book. And I think they'll both love it. Also, because this is exactly the type of book I look for when it comes to their reading material.

[Lily Reid · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm going to be very blunt when I say this, this is possibly the WORST book I've ever read. With a whiny character, confusing plot and overall horrible story line I would not recommend this book.

"Confusing plot?" You may ask, and the answer to that is YES. I learned in grade 2 to never stray from a topic. For example when you are writing an essay about sunshine, but than you start randomly talking about bananas, Jenny Hale did exactly that. One minute she would be talking about how much Jatta hated Brankensith and then the next Riz (Yet another confusing character as he was in love with Jatta even though she was to be married to Drake?) would be getting thrown in to a portal after being unloyal and trying to kill his father.

Also the dragon scales, like what the fuck!? The most unnecessary filler chapter ever and overall just slowed down the book completely. Oh also add a main character who makes that assbutt Donald trump who has an I.Q of about 0.000001 look like a genius, also doesn't help. She was dead stupid, Jatta couldn't even understand her own kingdoms money system.

I had to read this book for class, and normally I'm awesome at writing summaries but this story was so confusing ( me being a grade 8 student with and I.Q of 116) I couldn't even begin the first sentence. Overall HORRIBLE book. Which is really sad as the back of the book hooked me in

[edel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once I start a book, I just have to finish it, no matter how bad it is. A couple of times, I was tempted to put down the book and never touch it again. The first half of the book was extremely dull. I couldn't get into the story, but I tried to read on. The premise seemed great, but ultimately, it was a let down.

A lot of the events confused me. I'd be reading a scene and then suddenly think, "Wait, what just happened?" That was something consistent in the book.

The characters were developed enough. The two main characters, Jatta and Arthmael, didn't strike much sympathy with me. They seemed very cliche a lot of the times and just like souless puppets.

Probably the only redeeming thing about the book was the twist at the end. I honestly did not see it coming and I was pleasantly surprised by it.

It could have been a great book but the general confusion throughout was a big turn off for me.

[bin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was quite enjoying it, and overall was a really good, albeit easy to read book. It was good- I mean really good. Loved the plot (although the 'twist' in the first chapter was obvious) and for a first book for the author it was pretty amazing. Loved the characters- not one a mary sue. However...the end part was weird. I would have accepted the wings, but all the powers of that undead dude...especially the tenticles. Bleargh. I'm sorry, it's just possible to make a character too powerful.
Down a star for that, but I liked it. I'll be keeping my eye on this author.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This took me a long time to read. I wanted to stop reading it so often because it is a really slow book. The premise seemed to be pretty interesting but the book wasn't actually that gripping. I wasn't very drawn to Jatta by the end. Many times I almost lost what was going on plot-wise. Character development was probably its strongest point but once you get it hammered in that people who have monstrous parts to them can also have good parts too, you've summarized much of the novel. The plot twist at the end was probably the best part, but overall the book was unsatisfying.

[Reem · Rating 2 out of 5]

at first i read the blurb and really liked it so i borowed it and started reading. i liked how it was scary in how she attacked her brother and i was like YAY!aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
then the book went on and on and on with boringness:(
i stoped at when they were in that guys castle (forgot his name) who feeds his dragon with people and stopped because i started to sleep when i was reading it.
i would reccomend people not to read this if they are not very interested in fantasy and old times books.
it was ok!

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is dark and creepy, as you can see from the cover. This is one of those books that you can judge it by it's cover. But I'm not saying in a bad way, I loved the creepiness of the storyline especial in the last few chapters when they are on the island. This books portrays a little girl with a big decision to make that is a life or death decision. It is hard to get in to, but trust me as soon as you do it is a great read.

[Mkb · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a hard time getting through this. I started it 7 months ago!! I bought because it was one dollar and the cover was great. I think the author poured a lot of love into imagining her characters, but I found the world they inhabited a bit confusing. There were so many characters and journeys and different locations. We'd be introduced to characters, spend a little time with them and then never look back. The Olde Tyme dialect to show a different culture was irritating too.

[Care · Rating 2 out of 5]

IM NOT ENTIRELY SURE WHAT I THOUGHT OF JATTA.
THE START OF THE BOOK WAS FAST-PACED, BUT THE MIDDLE WAS NOT BY ANY MEANS 'THRILLING'. I PERSONALLY FOUND THE WRITING CONFUSING; SOME OF THE PARAGRAPHS I HAD TO SKIM. DEFINATELY NOT EDITED WELL!
I DIDN'T PARTICULARLY LIKE THE ENDING EITHER; IT WAS TOO 'FAIRYTALE' HAPPINESS AND EVERYTHING WAS ALRIGHT AGAIN.

[Virginia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started off well, and drew me right in with the action and mystery, but then i found it hard to stay into it. That might've been coz I had to put it down a lot and read it in short stints, and maybe coz i read it right after Late Exlipses which was so good, but it does jump a bit too. I did love the brother-sister relationship though!:)

[Stella Telleria · Rating 1 out of 5]

Never have I been unable to enjoy a story because of the writing style. I can usually ignore it and get used to the voice the story is told in...except for this one. One hundred pages in and the writing is convoluted and transition-less. Where were the editors? And the character development? I didn't really feel for Jatta at all, and that is not good

[Swalsk · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book a few years ago. It was honestly one of the worst books I've ever read. It was so bad it was hilarious. Similar to how Evil Dead 1 was when it first came out in theaters. God forbid they ever make a sequel to this book. Honestly I might read it again just to remember how f'd it got at the end. It was memorable... but for all the wrong reasons.

[jewelruby ☆˚.⋆ · Rating 1 out of 5]

boring. boring. boring.

This sounded like such a good book but it was so boring. Determined to not DNF it I painfully kept going along with reading it, but eventually had to give up and I sadly could not finish it. I was loathing reading because if this book. the plot sounded so good when I bought it but it really was not a good read.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had so much moving around, it never stayed in one setting, always changing, never the same, that's what keeps you reading on, trying to guess what's coming next. And just when you think the characters have gained a sense of stability, there is an epic turn of events.

[Faith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got extremely confused at points and didn't understand what was going on. The imagery seemed to go on forever as well. I used to like it when I was a bit younger but i lost interest the second time i read it.