NJ: Young Fantasy Reads Book Group (Paramus) discussion

This is the Thread for Books Read by the Young Fantasy Reads Book Group in 2016:

GREGOR & THE CODE OF CLAW, Gregor 5.............Suzanne Collins.................11/17/16
THE TOMBS OF ATUAN, Earthsea 2........................Ursula K Le Guin...............10/20/16
SHADOW SCALE, Seraphina 2..................................Rachel Hartman................09/15/16
DOVE ARISING, Dove 1..............................................Karen Bao..........................08/08/16
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, Dragon 1.............Cressida Cowell.................07/21/16
I AM NUMBER FOUR, Four 1....................................Pitticus Lore......................06/16/16
MAGIC TEACHER'S SON, Magic 1............................David Harten Wilson........05/19/16
HELLHOLE..................................................................Gena Damico.....................04/21/16
THE TITAN'S CURSE, Percy 3..................................Rick Riordan......................03/17/16
GREGOR & MARKS OF SECRET, Gregor 4..............Suzanne Collins.................02/18/16
ALLEGIANT, Divergent 3..........................................Veronica Roth....................01/21/16

The following accounts are reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2016 Philip J De Parto.


THE TOMBS OF ATUAN
Teenaged Arha (aka Tenar aka The Eaten One), taken from her family at age 5 to serve the Nameless Ones, is the lead character. As their High Priestess, only she is allowed to traverse the treasure-ridden underground labyrinth. Enter the wizard Sparrowhask (aka Ged), hero of A WIZARD OF EARTHESA, who has come to the maze to retrieve the lost Ring of Erreth-Akbe. Arha activates a trap which imprisons the mage. She is curious about the world outside the island of Atuan and initiates a series of conversations with the wizard. Eventually Arha realizes that her gods are leading her down a dark path. The two join forces, recover the ring, and depart the island.

The book was written in 1971 and YA readers accustomed to fast-paced narratives of kick-ass heroines may find it slow going. I personally enjoyed that the book took its time in getting to the action and that Arha does not pick up a sword to go charging into battle. Her heroic journey is to see through the web of lies which have bound her since childhood and escape her barren existence. Recommended.

SHADOW SCALE
Although the ending felt a bit cliched, this is a novel well worth reading. The story relates the half-human/half-dragon (dragons can shape-change and breed) Seraphina Dombegh's quest to recruit a group of fellow ityassaris (half-breeds) whose collective abilities may be enough to tip the balance in favor in favor of the of the dragons who desire to live in peace with humans and against those who seek to prey upon mankind.

Phil particularly enjoyed the world-building: the language of Polyphyry (two sexes, but six genders and seven cases), the ropes attached to bells in the temple of Chakhon so that the passage of visitors is accompanied by chimes, and the rich description of the sights and sounds of everyday life in this world. Phil's favorite line was Seraphina's realization that "I've found my people and they weren't even mine (Page 427)."

DOVE ARISING
We all liked the book and its characters. Liz thought the science was handled well and that it read like science fiction. Phil appreciated that it avoided some aspects of the typical YA like a love trilogy (though Liz and Jeni saw subtle sparks). Jeni felt that the elements of Chinese culture rang true. We enjoyed the world building, particularly the militant atheism of the Lunar government. Highly recommended. We are sure to read the next book in the series.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON
This was a children's fantasy which had some amusing moments, but not terribly much to talk about.

The story is set on a group of islands populated by gruff, aggressive Vikings who catch baby dragons and train them as warrior companions. Hiccup winds up with the runt of the litter who, unsurprisingly, saves the day when a pair of huge, hostile dragons pay a visit.

Liz commented that there were no women to speak of in the book. We enjoyed the reprint of the original Viking (the warrior, not the publishing company) text of the book and that the Viking chief was torn between tradition and the love of his son, but overall, there's not much there there.

I AM NUMBER FOUR
The book is a mixed bag. Everyone agreed that the teens sounded authentic, unlike those found in many other YA works which have their leads behave in age-uncharacteristic ways. Pam liked the voice. Karen liked the chimera, Bernie Kosar, and the Girl Power of Number Six. Phil liked the redemption of Mark and how the paranoid newspaper rags were correct about aliens living among us.

On the minus side, please remember to turn off your brain while reading the book. The Lorien refugee good guys are just swell, the Mogadrian bad guys are pure evil and terrible shots, the science is New Age cringe worthy, and things happen for no reason than to advance the plot. We have read worse, but I can't honestly recommend it.

MAGIC TEACHER'S SON
The book straddles the border between Young Adult and Middle Grade. The characters were originally written as being 14, but their age was bumped up by two years to make the work more saleable. I found it interesting that Dave said there were a multitude of YA fantasy books for girls, but not so many for boys.

The group enjoyed the mechanics of the white magic / black magic system and other world-building details like the dangers in gazing into he future. The secondary characters, particularly the ageless boy, Jelal, were generally more interesting than the hero, Pran Gilamond. Karen and Phil gave it thumbs up, Jeni, thumbs down, with Liz in the middle.

HELLHOLE
While there were some nice touches like the use of crossword puzzle clues as chapter titles, cool bits about cats, and nice supporting characters, we didn't care at all about the two male leads, uber-nerdy Max Kilgore or slacker-devil Burgundy "Burg" Cluttermuck.

THE TITAN'S CURSE
The plot of the series is a conspiracy to resurrect Kronos, chief god of the evil Titans, who had ruled the world before being overthrown by Zues and the Olympian gods. Percy and his teen friends are half-bloods, offspring of liaisons between the Olympians and mortals (Percy's father is Poseidon).

The group felt that this was the weakest book in the series, with Liz and Jeni being disinterested in continuing to follow the adventures. Phil was less disenchanted (and thought that Percy's friend Annabeth's mortal father, Dr Chase, was a real hoot) and will finish the series outside the group. (He has completed book four and feels that it is a better work.)

GREGOR & THE MARKS OF SECRET
The tone of the books has grown darker as the series progressed, particularly in the last two books. Gregor joins a scouting party from the underground city of Regalia to discover the whereabouts of friendly tribes of nibblers (large intelligent mice) who have gone missing. They learn that the nibblers are systematically being slaughtered by the gnawers (intelligent rats) who have united under the prophesied leadership of the giant albino rat, the Bane, as part of a Final Solution to dealing with their problems. The work ends in a cliffhanger, with Gregor and friends warning the city of an approaching rat army.

ALLEGIANT
Liz ("mediocre") and Jeni ("just okay") were unimpressed with the work, rating it 3 out of 5 stars. Liz was critical of the science and genetics and felt the book was too much a teen romance. Karen and Phil liked it better. Karen liked the flow and pacing, likening it to bouncing on a trampoline. Phil enjoyed the moral and family ambiguities (Four's relationship with his parents, plus situations like "so we have the moral high ground because we're going to gas them before they gas us?").