Review: The Empress Game

First in the Empress trilogy
By Rhonda Mason
Available now from Pyr
Review copy

In the intergalatic empire at the center of THE EMPRESS GAME, the new empress is chosen through a tournament.  As this is obviously a cracked way to determine a political ruler, cheating is rampant.  Isonde, a political mover and shaker who is also the beloved of the emperor, enlists help to find a body double who can fight.  Her man Malkor finds Shadow Panthe, whose true name is Kayla Reunimon.  She is, of course, secretly the princess of a conquered world.

Despite being in the title, I found the games the most tedious part of THE EMPRESS GAME.  They gave Rhonda Mason the chance to add more action scenes, but even with explanation I was never quite sold on the tournament as a way of declaring a ruler.  The political machinations, however, were ace.  THE EMPRESS GAME is a good choice for space opera fans who like a plot that moves quickly and don't mind a prominent romance subplot.

Sparks fly between Malkor and Kayla, even though they are unsure whether they can trust each other.  Even more than herself, Kayla worries about her younger brother Corinth, who has been mute since the assassination of their family.  Keeping him safe and avenging her family are her top priorities, followed by returning to her people.  She's only invested in Isonde's scheme as a means to get where she wants to go.  Malkor, on the other hand, is only invested in helping Kayla out in order to put Isonde on the throne and further his political agenda.  However, the two of them might have more ideology in common than they first suspect.

I thought THE EMPRESS GAME could use a bit more emphasis on the space part of space opera, but that the complex layers to the characters' motivations were done very well.  Mason has set up an intriguing system where almost all of the political opinions have some merit.  I'm intrigued to find out what will happen in the second book of the trilogy.

Review: Trail of the Dead

Book two of the Killer of Enemies trilogy
By Joseph Bruchac
Available now from Tu Books
Review copy

Lozen and her companions are on the move.  They're all getting better at fighting gemods (genetically modified monsters) and Lozen's abilities are growing, tying them tighter together in unexpected ways.  But Lozen is also getting sick, and a new and powerful enemy has been set on her trail.

Lozen is a member of the Apache and Chiricahua tribes, and the mythology she grew up with informs how she battles monsters and keeps her humanity.  I've always loved stories that blend myth (or legends) into the story, and TRAIL OF THE DEAD is very satisfying on that account.  Her people's history is also very important to her.

In this post-apocalyptic future, few people have access to books or other pop-culture relics.  Lozen travels with the Dreamer, who it turns out has managed to save some books.  It is interesting to see what recovering a bit of written history can do for some people.  Lozen's crush, Hussein, is eager to read the Koran.  Still, oral tradition keeps alive many things that writing has failed.

I wasn't a fan of passages through the point of view of the villain, Luther Little Wound.  I found that they became repetitive as the book went on, because he doesn't have many interests aside from violence.  His point of view also didn't add much that we didn't learn, or couldn't have learned, through Lozen's point of view.

Apart from that quibble, TRAIL OF THE DEAD is a fun adventure story.  It has plenty of action, but still questions the consequences of violence.  It has a diverse cast of characters who are learning that they too might have their own prejudices to overcome.  It also has a tough heroine who has shouldered a heavy burden and is managing the weight.  I look forward to her final adventure.

Review: The Walls Around Us

By Nova Ren Suma
Available now from Algonquin Young Readers (Workman)
Review copy

THE WALLS AROUND US is a ghost story that becomes ever more eerie as it goes on, twining its way around you like the vines growing outside Aurora Hills, a juvenile detention center.   Aurora Hills is the home of Amber, sent there when she was thirteen.  It was the home of Ori, Violet's best friend. 

The girls both have terrible secrets in their past, as does the entire prison.  Nova Ren Suma doesn't shy away from many of the abuses committed in these institutions, nor from the racism and classism of the justice system in the United States.  THE WALLS AROUND US shifts back and forth in time, slowly revealing myriad tragedies, including the shocking murder of all forty-two residents of Aurora Hills and just what Vee and Amber have to do with it.

Vee and Ori were ballet dancers, both talented but bullied for different reasons.  Amber and her mother were abused by her stepfather, and Amber feared her younger sister was next.  The press says Ori killed two other ballerinas in a vicious rage.  The press says Amber engineered the car wreck that killed her stepfather.  Everyone in Aurora Hills says Ori and Amber are the only two innocent ones there.  But THE WALLS AROUND US is a story where no one knows the whole truth; at least, not until it is too late.

Nova Ren Suma's writing gets stronger with every novel.  She's always had style to spare, but I feel like her plots are becoming both tighter and more ambitious.  THE WALLS AROUND US is slow in event and focuses more on developing the main characters, as you might expect from a Suma novel.   But the overarching mystery of what happened between Vee and Ori and what happened to the girls of Aurora Hills ties everything together as the story begins hurtling to its macabre conclusion.

Questions of innocence and guilt, as well as the social issues surrounding juvenile incarceration, ground this slightly surreal story of a malevolent haunting.  There's also the question of remorse, which is always the question of justice.  Do only the penitent deserve to go free?  This is the kind of horror story where everyone gets what's coming to them.  I thought it was a satisfying, memorable read.

Making a List, Checking it Twice ...

... of books to take on Christmas vacation with me!

I still have some reading to finish for the Cybils, but I'm also packing some books that are just for me.  I intend to fully relax over the holidays.

I have two historical romances.  I've been very excited about COLD-HEARTED RAKE, Lisa Kleypas's return to historicals.  Eloisa James is another historical author that I love, and I picked up a copy of AN AFFAIR BEFORE CHRISTMAS because it seemed thematically appropriate.

I made an amazing second-hand store find at my local Half Price Books: INSTEAD OF THREE WISHES by Megan Whalen Turner.  This collection of seven short stories is hard to find (in my experience).  I love Turner's Queen's Thief series, so I'm happy to try something else by her - especially something this short!

LANCELOT AND THE LORD OF THE DISTANT ISLES or, THE BOOK OF GALEHAUT Retold is an Old French medieval romance that fell into obscurity until this translation by Patricia Terry and Samuel N. Rosenberg in 2006.  This edition also includes wood engravings by Judith Jaidinger.  I'm a huge fan of Arthurian romance, and Galehaut is said to include quite the interesting love triangle.

What are you reading?

Movie Monday: Star Wars: The Force Awakens: 2D vs. 3D

Thanks to a generous coworker, I was able to attend the Star Wars Marathon on Thursday.  This was a showing of all the films, culminating with Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 3D.  I'd already purchased a ticket to Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2D for Saturday, so I've gone to see the movie twice already.  One was with a rowdy, punch-drunk crowd; the other in a fairly quiet theater that couldn't resist cheering at some of the biggest surprises or victories.

I enjoyed the movie both times.  J.J. Abrams truly made this movie to cater to Star Wars fans.  He succeeds - sometimes a hair too much, in my opinion.  I hope the next two movies in the trilogy continue to become more of their own thing.  (There is a Death Star analogue, which, c'mon, that was used twice in the Original Trilogy!)  I particularly hope for this because I loved the new characters.  Rey is a young scavenger and pilot who happens across a droid who needs help.  Finn is a stormtrooper who realizes in his first battle that he can't work for the bad guys and has to escape.  Both of them are kids who are in over their head but still stumble towards the right thing.

But I don't want to give too much away.  I tried to avoid as many spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens as I could.  (Going on opening day did help.)  Instead, I'll focus on 2D vs. 3D.

I'll admit, I'm biased towards 2D.  I generally find it a more enjoyable movie experience, and this was no exception.  The 3D was done very smoothly; it didn't bother my eyes.  Mostly, it didn't make much of an impression.  There were a few moments that did wow me in 3D.  The opening crawl looked amazing in 3D.  It would've gotten my heart pumping anyway, but it really struck me in the 3D.  There's a moment where the Star Destroyer is right in the audience's face; many people in the theater I was in didn't hold back and tried to touch.  There's also a moment where Rey slides down a hill that looked pretty cool. 

However, there was one big drawback to the 3D.  The opening scene takes place at night and is full of fast-paced action.  I had trouble following it as well in the 3D version.  There were too many objects and too little light for me to clearly discern what was happening onscreen.

(I will admit, this also reminded me how dark modern filmmaking tends to be.  I saw this right after the Original Trilogy, which is suffused with sunlight.  Please, please don't be afraid of light!  I like when I can see what is happening onscreen.)

The 2D version lacks those few stunning moments, but I did find it easier to follow overall during the action sequences (of which there are many).  If you do want to see the 3D, seeing it in theaters might be your only chance.  It's mostly a toss-up of whether you want to pay the money or not.

I can't weigh in on the IMAX presentation, but I do still intend to go see Star Wars: The Force Awakens with my dad.  Maybe I can convince him to go see it in IMAX.