1. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
I've only read one other book by Maggie Stiefvater, Scorpio Races, which I liked a lot. That book was based on the Scottish water horse myth, which I've always been intrigued by (I wrote my own short story on water horses, after all), and her writing was very skillful in creating atmosphere. I haven't bothered reading Shiver and the other books in that series (which is what put Maggie Stiefvater on the map in the first place) because I'm not terribly big on paranormal romances, but I heard a lot of good things about The Raven Boys from my go-to book recommender, Forever Young Adult.
The Raven Boys is kind of hard to explain/summarize, but it was completely my cup of tea, and I adored it. I've always been interested in stories with a tinge of creepiness but not outright horror. There was a manga I read when I was younger called Tarot Cafe, and since then I've always been interested in tarot cards used as foreshadowing in fiction. Other elements that were totally up my alley were prophecies, rich private school boys, and spirits.
The heroine of The Raven Boys is Blue Sargent, who comes from a family of fortune tellers and mystics. She doesn't have those magical psychic abilities but for some reason is able to amplify the powers of others around her. Everyone who has ever told her fortune has seen that if she kisses her true love, he will die. Early in the beginning of the book, she goes to the cemetery with her aunt, and to her surprise she sees the spirit of someone who will die within the coming year. Her aunt tells her that the fact that she can see his spirit means that either he's her true love, or she'll kill him.
Later on, you find out that the boy whose spirit she saw is Gansey, a rich student at the local private all boys school who's desperately hunting for something. I won't give away what he's looking for, but his reasons were quite... well, you'll see. You also meet the rest of the "Raven Boys": Ronan, Noah, and Adam.
This book was great. I loved the interaction between the four boys, who were all very well characterized, and the mysterious elements were unique and thrilling. What sucks is that this was the first book in a series... so I'm gonna have to figure out how to get my hands on the second book, The Dream Thieves.
2. Lips Touch Three Times by Laini Taylor
Obviously everyone who read this blog knows I am a HUGE fan of the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, and I admire-envy Laini Taylor's way with words. So, OF COURSE I was going to read this book sooner or later. This book basically consists of three stories, each revolving around a kiss. At the beginning and end of each story are illustrations by Laini Taylor's husband, Jim Di Bartolo, which are gorgeous. I kept flipping back and forth to look at the illustrations as I read, since some of them depict specific scenes in the story.
The first story "Goblin Fruit" is about a high school girl who catches the attention of a very handsome new student. Immediately, it sounds like Twilight, though I'll just go out and say that it's not about vampires. I won't spoil what happens at the end, but let's just say if Twilight had ended up with Edward seducing Bella to dine on her blood, and Bella willingly going to her demise... then that's basically the gist of what happens here.
The second story "Spicy Little Curses Such as These" was my favorite out of the three. It reminded me of a fairy tale, mixed with a spin on the Orpheus myth. Due to a bargain between a demon and a human ambassador to Hell, a girl is born cursed with a voice that will kill anyone who hears it. Though no one knows for sure if the curse is real, out of fear she remains mute her whole life. In time, a soldier falls in love with her after reading her lost diary, and after they meet, she falls in love with him as well. The story takes place in India and uses a lot of eastern ideas on the concept of hell, and this was the story that started reminding me of Francesca Lia Block, though I feel like Laini Taylor's poetic style is a little more restrained. I was impressed by how the ending neatly wrapped up certain things in the story, which was a pleasant surprise.
The third story "Hatchling" has more of a fantastical feel that for some reason made me think of Howl's Moving Castle. This one also veers more towards Daughter of Smoke and Bone territory, with some fantasy terms and supernatural creatures. This story involved a lot of flashbacks, which reminded me of how some people were turned off by the huge chunk of flashback about Madrigal and Akiva in Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I didn't mind Madrigal's story in that novel, but with this one I felt that it became a bit too flashback-heavy. This story almost felt like a precursory experiment before Laini Taylor ended up fleshing out a full universe with related elements in DOSAB.
If you like Laini Taylor's writing and slightly creepy fairy tales, this book is worth reading. In particular, I enjoyed reading the words and sentences masochistically and asking myself, "Ughhhh why can't you do this?" Here's one of my favorite passages:
It was bound in floral linen and filled with girlish script. "The secrets of a blushing maiden," he quipped with a smile that brought his dimples out, and he flipped it right open with no scruple to preserving the maidenly modesty of its writer. Indeed, he expected none. He had endured his sea voyage in the company of the "fishing fleet" -- English ladies hying themselves in India to catch husbands -- and he felt as if he had barely escaped being drugged and dragged to the altar. He thought he knew the character of English girls in India, and surely this diary would be more of the same.And there were other great lines scattered through, but too many to quote here without giving the story away.
Tucking Gaffney's lighter back into his pocket, James began to read.
His smile wavered. It clung for a time in disbelief and then fell away in stages [I love this sentence!]. The little book did indeed hold the secrets of a blushing maiden, but they weren't the sort of secrets he'd expected, and by the time his train arrived in Jaipur, James had read the diary through twice and found himself--against all expectation--to be half in love with its writer.
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