The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox

The Slave Dancer was the Newbery Award winner for 1974; it's an old school book, written in an old school style. Therefore, for people who love modern style writing that's quick or not too prosy, this one probably isn't the one for them. It miiiight not hold the attention of an action-driven kid who is more
interested in racing around the yard than reading, but I think it is a good teaching tool or a launching point so that parents or teachers could talk to kids about slavery, slave ships and the Middle Passage. I think it's also a good novel to give kids who might be interested in learning more about slavery.

This is the story of Jessie, a boy musician who plays his fife for the wrong people and ends up getting shanghaied. He winds up on a slave ship, where he is forced to play his fife while the slaves are on deck so they can dance for exercise. It's also the story of the slaves who are forced aboard the ship as prisoners and property and made to endure a unimaginably awful journey. The pain and suffering and madness of this book is enough to make the hairs on the back of your head stand up. The men who work the slave ship are a tough and terrible lot, and their captain is practically psychotic. They are senselessly violent and few, if any, have any moral qualms about their line of work. The slaves...you can feel their anguish. Many of the scenes are disturbing; they stayed with me long after I finished the book. From the point in the story where the slaves are loaded onto the ship to the point onward is especially difficult to get through due to the exhibitions of cruelty. There is a hopeful ending for more than one character at the end of the book. I thought it was a weighty and powerful read, but it might go over the heads of younger kids. I think middle school/high school would be the most appropriate age group for this book.

Alive!

Hey, I haven't disappeared! I just finished grad school classes for the semester, finally, so all the reviews I put on hold will be coming soon. Huzzah and verily! Meanwhile, my list of to-reads grows ever longer, and the library has gotten a bazillion more books in. This is a great problem since every time I finish a book I feel like...

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

A tale of adventure, treasure, a talking dragon with a funny name, dwarven companions and discovering courage during trying circumstances, The Hobbit is a story that kids, teens and adults have been enjoying for
going on a century. It's the story of a small, fussy little hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, who loves his cozy home in the Shire, where no one goes on any adventures or does anything very daring or dangerous. However, they all know what's going on in the town and who's who and who's related to so-and-so and what they ate for breakfast that morning. It's rather like a small Southern American town, actually. Bilbo's a homebody but there's a small spark in him that is still adventurous, thanks to his Took side (shout out to Peregrin Took, Tookishness rule!), and it is this little bit of boldness and a good shove from Gandalf that leads him to join the company of Thorin Oakenshield. This group of dwarves is heading off to the Lonely Mountain (aka Erebor) on a quest to reclaim their treasure from the dragon, Smaug, who took over their kingdom quite a few years back. Dwarves are a proud folk, but eventually Bilbo wins their approval and they actually start looking to him for answers and plans and the like. Their adventures include battling goblins, trekking through a creepy forest, being imprisoned by an Elven king, sneaking back into their own kingdom and then a massive battle. It's easy to sort of lose track of which dwarves are along for the journey (there are 13, so it's a lot of names and many rhyme), but if you do decide to watch The Hobbit movie, they're given rather distinct character traits and appearances. A few stand out in the book, like Thorin, Dori, Balin, Fili, Kili and Bombur; many of the others, poor fellows, sort of fade into the background. Overall, I love this book to pieces, and I would recommend it to basically anyone with a healthy love of fantasy.

Midnight City by J. Barton Mitchell

Aliens, robot armor suits, explosions, a psychic little girl, a bounty hunter, a near-magic tech wizard, a romance and a dog. What more are you looking for in a sci-fi book?! I mean, seriously!

So, yeah, I love this book. It's got all of the sorts of action and aliens that a sci-fi girl could want plus really good characters. The story follows Holt, a bounty hunter who's on the run, Mira, who can create fantastical tools using items that seem to have magical properties, and Zoey, a little girl with memory loss who Holt rescues from a crashed alien ship who is far more than she first appears. They live in on a version of Earth that has been conquered by a mysterious alien race that they refer to as the Assembly; Assembly aliens seem to be light or energy based creatures, and I hope we get more info about them in later books. The aliens have basically captured all of the adults, and almost all children are infected with something that is called the Tone, which seems to be a mind-control virus that becomes worse as they grow up; when they reach adulthood, they fall under the influence of the Tone and walk themselves to the nearest alien home base. Harsh. Those who are immune to the Tone are called Heedless, and Holt just happens to be one of these. I'm sort of in love with Holt. I mean, really, a lonely, sarcastic, surly bounty hunter with a dark past whose main goal is survival, plus he has a dog, plus he's very capable, plus he's witty? Yes. Oh, yes, he is good, and just a very enjoyable character besides his inherent awesomeness; he screws up, makes mistakes and has goofy moments. Mira is kick butt and very clever, and I think she'd be an awesome best friend for anyone. She and Holt have a great love-hate-admiration-annoyance thing going on; it was fantastic. Max and Zoey are great sidekicks, and I hope we discover more about Zoey in the next books.

I guess if I had any problems with this book, it was that they spent a lot of time running away from the Assembly...I mean, a lot. Which was sort of necessary, but maybe some of the running bits could be cut out or shortened. Besides that, I really liked the book, everything from the characters to the setting to the plot.

I was very satisfied with the ending of this book. With most YA books, I'm a little shriveled twist of discontent emotions, often quite upset at the current predicament of characters that I've come to enjoy. With Midnight City, I was happy with the ending, though it's not exactly happy and it definitely left me wanting more. It's hard to describe, but I just was really pleased with the ending that Barton provided. I think anyone who is a bit of a sci-fi nut might want to give this book a try!

Thank you, NetGalley.com and St. Martin's Press, for letting me read the galley of this book!

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

How in the world does one fit everything in A Clash of Kings into one review?! I give up, I’ll just stick to the important bits. This book is great but ginormous, and it's a whole lot of book to take in at once. I'm a multi-book-reader, but while I was reading this one, I had to put basically everything else aside for a while. This is a massive story, and it's only a small part of the whole epic tale.

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

As it is sort of indicated by the title, this book is chock full of guys wanting to be kings and kick other kings butts. The two people who probably have the most legitimate claims are Daenerys and Stannis, but I’d definitely just go ahead and give the North to Robb. They’re never going to settle down up there now unless they’re burned out by dragon fire (possible now since Dany has dragons), but it would be easier to just Robb have his own kingdom and deal with the White Walkers and wildlings on his own. Also, Robb is all kingly and stuff…let him have a kingdom! One without backstabbing, twofaced, nasty Theon in it. Darn you, Theon. You made me sad-face so much!

There are multiple storylines that thread through the main plot of who-gets-to-be-king-now, and I thought that Daenerys, Davos and Arya had particularly interesting threads. I didn’t expect to like Davos as much as I did, but he was really fascinating once you knew his backstory and got to watch him deal with suddenly-crazy Stannis. There are battles and alliances and betrayals and bargains and dinners and journeys galore in this book. It is definitely an epic story with a massive cast of characters.

Deciding which character is my favorite is too hard. Tyrion was FANTASTIC. He's so incredibly clever and awesome, and I love how he got to kick some serious butt in this book, both mentally and physically. However, I really think Arya is just the best. She’s so feisty and indomitable, you just know that she’s eventually going to come out on top. Or at least she should, but Martin’s evil and likes to kill off totally wicked characters... I also really wish that we could have gotten to see more of Robb in this book. I like him bunches, but we don't spend much time at all directly with him, though he's talked about a lot during the book. I have a feeling he gets more attention in the next book, but from the rumors I’ve heard and the little alluding-tos in this book, it might not be a good kind of attention.

Oh, and I am a member of the Punch-Joffery-In-The-Face Club. That boy should be tied to a post and smacked by every other character in the book, from Dany down to Hot Pie. Seriously, I'm not kidding, that would probably be the best scene ever. I wonder if HBO would go for that…

This book is super good but I definitely wouldn’t recommend it to younger teens or preteens. There are a lot of mature themes in this book that they might not enjoy as much until they are older. However, older teens and young adults who enjoy fantasy and adventure will probably love this book to pieces.