Wolf by Wolf: Book Review

Ryan Graudin’s Wolf by Wolf is an alternative history story that takes place in a world where the Axis powers won World War Two and is set during the 1950s. Our main character, Yael, enters a motorbike race, the prize of which includes a chance to publicly meet Adolf Hitler. The story follows her journey on this race, and her plans to assassinate Hitler and start the resistance. 

The race aspect of this story often reminded me of The Hunger Games as in many parts in was not so much a race to win, but a race to survive the longest. The race was thrilling and exciting and had me on the edge of my seat. During the race we are introduced to a potential for a romance. As the romance was hinted, I couldn’t help but think it was hugely unnecessary to include a romance in the plot, as surely Yael has enough on her plate and would be prioritising other things? Though I wasn’t a fan of this relationship, I did really enjoy the Felix/Adele relationship throughout, as we aren’t often shown sibling relationships in young adult literature to the same extent, and their relationship was all the more important than the romantic one. 

I really enjoyed the historical fiction/alternative history aspect to the story, and I also enjoyed the science fiction aspect too, but I really struggled to believe both at the same time. In isolation, both of these ideas are great concepts, but together I found them a little unbelievable. I also didn’t realise that this book was the first in a series which disappointed me a little because I was looking forward to a historical fiction standalone. 

The action scenes were great and the concept was really intriguing, though at times the book fell a little flat for me. Overall I’d give it three and a half out of five stars.

Book Riot Challenge: ‘First They Killed My Father’

One of the read harder challenges is to read a book by a South East Asian author. I thought this would be really easy for me – I live in Thailand! But it was more difficult than I thought to find English translations of Thai works here in Bangkok. A couple of weeks ago we had a few days off from work and I went away to Cambodia for a few days and there I found First They Killed My Father. 

First They Killed My Father is an autobiographical account of life during the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia in the 1970s. Essentially, the Khmer Rouge was a communist party that ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. Led by Pol Pot, and previously known as Democratic Kampuchea, the regime was responsible for two million deaths (from a population of only seven million), the most famous of those occurring on the Killing Fields. The Khmer Rouge was a party based on Marxism, extreme Cambodian nationalism and xenophobia. Their attempts to create a classless and fully agrarian society had disasterous outcomes for the country and its citizens. The Khmer Rouge was officially dissolved in 1996. 

This book was written by Loung Ung, a young girl at the age of only five when her family was forced out of their home in Phnom Penh, 1975, in the year 2000, and reflects on her life during this difficult time. She describes life in labour camps, and training to be a child soldier. She details the deaths of family members and the decision to disperse in an attempt to save the remaining family members. It is all told from a child’s perspective and this just makes it all the more harrowing. It is useful to us as readers who perhaps have little knowledge of the place and era to hear it from a child’s perspective as we learn with her. 

It was a fantastically written book, with horrifically vivid descriptions at times, and emotion dripping off the pages. I really think that these kinds of experiences should be remembered; those who suffered deserve to have their stories heard. This book resonated with me especially because I read it whilst in Cambodia having just visited Siem Reap’s war museum. Once I started this book I could not put it down. I read as though Loung’s life depended on it.

Thoroughly worth reading, though perhaps not a beach read! I recommend reading it and watching the movie The Killing Fields as I did to get a broader understanding.

Book Riot Challenge: The Diviners

I was really excited to read a book in the horror category for the Read Harder Challenge because, though it is not often my go-to genre, I’ve really enjoyed horror novels in the past. (Did anyone else have nightmares from reading a Goosebumps book before bed?) 

I’m really interested in history, particularly 1920s American history, and so when I found this book I didn’t think a more perfect one existed. I actually did my history dissertation for my degree on women’s sexuality in 1920s New York and this is explored a fair amount in the book. The book was written by Libba Bray which got me even more excited because I really enjoyed Beauty Queens. 

The summary from Goodreads states:

Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City—and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult.

Evie worries he’ll discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer.

As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho hides a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened.

I started to read this book a few months ago and couldn’t really get into it. Though I loved the characters and the setting, I thought the plot was slow and I didn’t find myself thinking about the book when I wasn’t reading it. (I had really high expectations for this book and I think that ruined it for me a little.) It wasn’t a bad introduction to the story by any means, I just wasn’t hooked from the start.

So a couple of months later (I was still convinced I would enjoy the book if I really committed to it) I downloaded the audiobook using a free trial on Audible. And I loved it! It was very long – eighteen and a half hours! – but I finished it in only a couple of weeks. I listened to it mostly on my walk to the bus and the bus journey to work, and it made the journey far more interesting, and scarier too! The audiobook is read by January LeVoy and she does an excellent job at distiguishing between the different characters’ voices. 

Essentially it is a 1920s supernatural horror story. There are ghosts and powers far beyond recognition or understanding, and this makes it feel so much more real. The book is incredibly atmospheric. Particularly when listening to the audiobook, readers can really feel like they are in the roaring twenties. I found myself envying the dresses and the parties and wishing I were part of that world!

Until John Hobbs comes along. John Hobbs is the perfect villain. Throughout the story Evie, Will and their companions are trying to become one step ahead of Naughty John, but John is cunning. We, as readers, don’t fully understand John’s abilities or motives or beliefs or history, because our main characters don’t either. We learn as Evie and the team learn. He is creepy and myterious and utterly perfect for this story.

Like I said before, I am particularly interested in this era and the changing perceptions of women and expressions of sexuality. This was portrayed wonderfully through the main three female characters in the book: Evie, Mabel and Theta. We see differing approaches to womanhood. Evie is the stereotypical twenties flapper whereas Mabel is weary of that image, and Theta embraces her sexuality on stage at the Follies.

What I really enjoyed about this book was how understated the romances were. Sure, there was some flirting and tension and potential for romance, but it wasn’t a significant part of the story. It’s so refreshing to read a young adult book that doesn’t heavily feature a teenage romance!

For me, the thing that was most interesting was the discussion of belief throughout. Belief is an important motivating factor throughout this entire novel. Does belief justify action? It takes an interesting look at religion and humanity and how far ones beliefs can justify their actions.

Overall I’d give this book five out of five stars – it was incredible! I have a long coach journey from Bangkok to Siem Reap coming up this weekend so I’m looking forward to listening to Lair of Dreams on the way!

Book Riot Challenge: Winter

For the challenge to read a book over five hundred pages, I chose Winter by Marissa Meyer. This book is the fourth and final instalment in the Lunar Chronicles, a set of futuristic, science fiction retellings of fairy tales. 

The first book, Cinder, is, predictably, a Cinderella retelling set in New Beijing after the fourth world war. As a cyborg, Cinder deals with the effects of being a second class citizen and, after the death of her adoptive father, her wicked step mother and sister. In addition, the world is being ravaged by a plague called Letumosis. The only cure for Letumosis is known by the Lunars, a colony of humans with special powers living on the moon. Emperor Kai of New Beijing is pressured to form an alliance with the Lunars to receive the antidote. However, it seems that Queen Levana of Luna has her own motives. When her step sister contracts the plague, her evil step mother sends Cinder to be used as a test subject for a Letumosis antidote. From here, we follow Cinder as she attempts to save Emperor Kai from the evil Queen Levana, and as she searches for an antidote.

The next book, Scarlet, is loosely based on the Little Red Riding Hood story. She lives happily with her grandmother in the south of France, but her life is thrown into chaos when a group of Lunar soldiers ravage her town, and her grandmother goes missing. Meanwhile, we also follows Cinder’s story as she continues on her quest to defeat Queen Levana and find the Letumosis cure. Though it starts off as a Little Red Riding Hood retelling, it certainly also mirrors Beauty and the Beast at times.

Cress is a Rapunzel retelling. As a citizen of Luna born with no special powers, Cress is forced to live aboard a satellite and to use her skills as a computer technician for the spies of Queen Levana and her followers. Again, we also follow Cinder and Scarlet on their quest to discover what secrets would help them to defeat Levana and save the Letumosis sufferers of Earth. 

Winter is the final instalment of the series and it follows Levana’s step daughter, Princess Winter, or Snow White, as she deals with life in Levana’s court. A traumatic experience at a young age has encouraged Winter never to use her Lunar “gift” again. Meanwhile, we follow Cinder, Scarlet and Cress as all four come together to battle Levana and get the antidote.

WARNING: spoilers ahead. 

This series has so much drama and action, I struggled to put it down! There is never a dull moment in this last instalment and I was not disappointed. I love a book with kick-ass female characters and this book was full of them! I sometimes got a little confused about what was happening and a little overwhelmed with the action so perhaps it could actually have done with a break from the action every so often.

Throughout the whole series, but particularly the time on Luna, there is an underlying theme of humanity. Right from the start we see that Cinder is a cyborg and therefore a second class citizen. She is ashamed of this and tries to hide it. Little does she know that she is a cyborg because she was almost killed by her evil aunt, Queen Levana, and she is actually Princess Selene of Luna! Humans feel threatened by cyborgs’ enhanced limbs and brains. Cinder herself becomes dependent on certain functions of her brain, unavailable to average humans. There is a constant battle to create a world in which humans and enhanced humans can live together as one human race.

Humanity is also brought into question in Iko’s character. As an android with a personality chip default, she shows incredibly human characteristics. This creates a debate about machines taking over humans. Should androids like Iko really exist, or should they be destroyed when they start to show human characteristics? But once an android has these characteristics, is it in humane to ‘kill’ someone who is emotionally, if not physically, a human?

It is also addressed most clearly in the Lunar gift. Throughout all novels, but particularly the last one, humans are used as puppets. Does forcing a person to act against their will take away their humanity? Is doing so for their own good really a good thing? Throughout Winter struggles with these thoughts, and Meyer does a terrific job of making readers also question them. 

There are four key romantic relationships throughout this series: Cinder and Kai, Scarlet and Wolf, Cress and Thorne, and Winter and Jacin. All young adult books nowadays seem to include romances. Is it just me, or if you were concentrating on saving the Earth would you have time for romance? I’m always a little sceptical about how quickly and conveniently romances begin during young adult books, and how these relationships always seem to end well. When you’re breaking into the queen’s palace as part of a plan to overthrow a villainous dictator, Cress and Thorne, do you really think it’s a good idea to stop, kiss and discuss the dynamics of your relationship? How poorly timed! (Anyone else remember Jace’s condom in City of Heavenly Fire?) Though I approached at least a couple of these relationships with some scepticism, Meyer had me caring for each one and wishing for their happy ending. My favourite couple was Winter and Jacin, as we got to see how their relationship developed from childhood. No instalove here!

Speaking of happy endings: what a fantastic fight scene at the end! Cinder came face to face with Levana and it was like a Harry-Voldemort stand-off but with mind control. Until Scarlet and the others arrived. They had no shield against the Lunar mind control – they merely became pawns for Levana’s use. And Cinder, never believe the villain when they tell you they’ve changed and seen the error of their ways. They never have. 

I’m not convinced that the transition from the final battle scene to the chat with Scarlet’s friend in Paris was a particularly good one. We readers were left not knowing how the scene ended and were left hearing from a character we care very little about. Though we were all presumably happy that all our favourite characters lived, I struggled to believe it. These characters were in so much danger for the duration of four hefty novels and they all conveniently lived. I’ll put this down to them being fairytale retellings though, and am just happy for the characters.

Finally, a small criticism I have of the ending is the lack of closure for poor Winter. She wasn’t there during the final battle between Levana and Cinder and I wish she’d had a part in that. She lived with Levana her entire life up until that point and so suffered her rule for many years. I would’ve liked for her to come and stab her from behind when Cinder started to believe Levana had surrendered. I would’ve like for her to have had more closure. 

Overall I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to any YA reader with a love of fairy tales, science fiction tales, or both.

Book Riot Challenge: Persepolis

I decided to read Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis for the task ‘read a book about religion’ as it is about a young girl’s experiences in Iran when the 1979 Islamic Revolution took place.

Ultimately, it is a story about childhood. The images are simplistic. This shows the simplicity by which the world is viewed by the young and the innocent. Readers can expect to experience a whole range of emotions when reading this book, from happiness to anger, and from fear to unthinkable grief. 

We see that Marji learns from her school teacher that the Shah is divine. When the Shah is overthrown, and the new Islamic regime takes control, we see the confusion Marji and other children were faced with. Marji was lucky in the sense that she was respected by her parents and provided a relatively large amount of freedom, but we do see some instances where this leads to Marji almost getting herself into a lot of trouble, by daring to show some hair, or wearing lipstick.

At the beginning of the book, Marji takes refuge in God. She believes she is a prophet and turns to God for everything. Later, as Marji becomes more aware of suffering, often in the name of God and religion, she turns on God and can no longer see how God would allow the things she witnesses and hears about everyday.

We quickly come to realise that the Islamic regime is really not much better than the monarchy that came before it, and we are exposed, through Marji’s eyes, to a lot of violence, suffering, and sometimes death. The stark differences between the light and dark scenes clearly depict the mood of the scenes, and this is a great technique to show the drastic change in emotions throughout. 

For me, the overarching theme and most important message of the book was that the actions of extremists do not reflect the attitudes and beliefs of a nation. This is such an important thing to remember, particularly in today’s political and religious climate. I recommend this book to readers over the age of thirteen or fourteen, as there are scenes of death and some swearing, but this book can absolutely be enjoyed by adults too. 

Book Riot Challenge: We Should All be Feminists

For the ‘read a book with fewer than one hundred pages’ task, I chose We Should All be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche. This is a long essay based on a 2012 TEDTalk of the same name. The 37 year old Nigerian discusses her own experiences of sexism but also draws upon experiences of others and considers those experiences with respect to all women around the world.
Something that struck me about this essay was the acceptance of how the term “feminism” has come to connote something negative. Interestingly, Adiche confronts this and suggests it is related to the way men are brought up in modern society. She argues that simply the idea of feminism makes men feel threatened because men are conditioned to feel somewhat inferior if they are not in charge of situations and don’t assert their ‘manliness’. The idea of feminism therefore has developed negative connotations, as to give women more power and blur these boundaries could make men feel inferior and thus less of a man. One of my favourite parts of this text was how she referred to herself as a ‘Happy Feminist’ after an acquaintance described feminists as women who were unhappy because they couldn’t find themselves husbands. She goes on to explain how the idea of gender prescribes personailities, it doesn’t describe how people actually are. Gender does not recognise who we are as individuals, but how we are conditioned to act based on an almost global history of misogynistic and patriarchal societies. 

What I also found interesting about this book was how Adiche draws upon experiences from her own life, in both Africa and the US. It brings together these two different areas and draws upon the common themes. It makes the reader realise how widespread the problem of sexism really is. From providing these two points of view, we can see that Adiche is not making her essay area specific – she draws upon many examples of her and her friends’ lives and uses them to show the far reaching effects of sexism.

When I first thought about writing this post, I really wanted to write a balanced review and cover both positive and negative aspects of this text. However, I read it twice and found nothing negative to really talk about. The only thing I could think of was how this essay is almost exactly the same as the TEDTalk and so not worth reading if you have seen the video. It does bring in a few more ideas, but essentially they are the same thing and both reading the book and watching the video is not necessary. 

It was only when I stumbled upon this point in another blog post about We Should All be Feminists that I realised that it is not explicitly trans-inclusive; that is, transgender women do not seem to be included. However, it is just that these women are not directly mentioned and not that they are explicitly excluded, so I cannot criticise Adiche too much as she did cover a lot in only a short book/video! 

I highly recommend this book or video to everyone. You don’t have to be a women to appreciate this text, and really you have no excuse not to pick up as the book is so short and readable. Adiche voices concerns that women have had, and some other women have also voiced, for centuries, but rarely are they voiced with such eloquance. It’s just a shame to me that this book needed to be written. Perhaps one day there will be a book named simply We Are All Feminists. 

Book Riot Challenge: Pride and Prejudice

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that this book is well worth a read.”
One of the challenges is to read a book with a movie adaptation. For this I chose Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Since reading the book, I realised I have actually seen three different adaptations. 

Firstly I’m going to talk about the book itself. As many of you know, Pride and Prejudice is a love story from the early nineteenth century concerning Miss Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy. Their love is not without hurdles and they have to conquer both societal and personal issues. On a basic level, the main stumbling blocks for them are Elizabeth’s pride and Darcy’s prejudice. However, they also have to deal with societal expectations as portrayed in the book by Lady Bennet’s worry about not marrying the girls off the wealthy men, Lady Catherine’s worries about her nephew marrying beneath him, Miss Bingley’s similar worry of her brother marrying someone too poor, and Wickham’s deceit. It also shows, through the relationship of Charlotte Lucas and Mr Collins, that romantic love does not always dictate a marriage, but also, through Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship and that of Jane and Mr Bingley, that love can conquer so many obstacles. 

Firstly I watched the 1995 TV adaptation, starring Colin Firth. I think this version is my favourite as it is the most faithful to the book. I think the characters and the storyline are very close to how Austen intended them. I got the same feel for the characters watching this as I did reading the book. I thought both the Elizabeth/Wickham and the Lydia/Wickham relationships were portrayed really well. This adaptation also has my favourite portrayal of Lydia. I think in many other adaptations she can be seen as quite arrogant and uncaring, whereas I think this version perfectly captures her naivity. 

The second one I watched was the very famous 2005 movie starring Kiera Knightly. I think this version perfectly captures the feel for the era and the social expectations. It also feels very romantic to me. The entire film felt romanticised and a little less realistic than the 1995 version. It was not so faithful to book, but I think it worked slightly better as a whole than the 1995 version. As a stand alone movie I cannot fault it. As an adaptation, I prefer the one from 1995. 

The next adaptation is one of a very different nature. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is a 2014 web series set in modern day North America and published on YouTube. It is 100 short episodes long and imagines Lizzie Bennet as a modern day vlogger, documenting her and her sisters’ lives on YouTube. The videos came out twice a week, as though the story were happening in real time. This was an excellent adaptation and so much fun to watch. My favourite thing about it was the decision to not show Darcy in the videos until much later on. The anticipation was almost palpable! Of course the story has been changed in order for it to work in today’s culture, but I think it was changed in all the right ways. Wait until you see how Lydia’s cohabitation with Wickham is approached! I highly recommend watching this web series – it really is a lot of fun. 

Book Riot Reading Challenge

Since I graduated from university in the summer of 2014 I have really enjoyed all of the (non-academic) reading I have had time to do. I like to think I read quite broadly and have read many different genres of books. This challenge covers many different styles, some of which I wouldn’t normally pick up and choose for myself, so I’m hoping that this challenges me to read even more broadly.
There are twenty four books in this challenge:
Read a horror book

Read a non-fiction book about science

Read a collection of essays

Read a book out loud to someone else

Read a middle-grade book

Read a biography (not memoirs or autobiography) 

Read a dystopian or post-apocalyptic book

Read a book originally published in the decade you were born in

Listen to an audiobook that has won an Audience Award

Read a book with more than 500 pages 

Read a book with fewer than 100 pages

Read a book where the main character or author defines themselves as transgender

Read a book set in the Middle East 

Read a book by a South East Asian author 

Read historical fiction set before 1900

Read the first in a series by a person of colour

Read a non-superhero comic (last three years)

Read a book that has been made into a film and compare

Read feminist non-fiction

Read a book about religion

Read a book about politics

Read a food memoir

Read a play

Read a book where the main character suffers from a mental illness

I have already, though not deliberately, read some books that fall into these categories and I will review those soon. I will go on to review those that I read for this challenge throughout the year. 
I’m looking forward to further diversifying my reading habits!
Claire