My Top Five Favourite Non-Fantasy Books

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (contemporary YA)

Before I Fall

It was kind of a guilty pleasure to ride around in Sam’s head as she exerts her magical popular girl powers to terrify others. I loved watching her figure out the butterfly effect and how every action was linked and had a reaction.

Wither by Lauren DeStefano (YA dystopian)

Wither (The Chemical Garden, #1)

Wither was amazing. It made me cry. It make me laugh. I loved the pace and the plot and Rhine’s character. She’s a caring, manipulative, awesome heroine. She never gives up on what she wants, she never loses sight of it and she goes through a lot to reach her goal. She doesn’t need saving, she has goals that extend beyond becoming someone’s girlfriend. She’s realistic and probably one of my favourite heroines.

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan (YA sci-fi)

Glow (Sky Chasers, #1)

Waverly is just like the coolest chick ever. I didn’t see as much selfishness in her as a lot of people tend to complain about YA heroines. She’s strong, selfless, and always puts others before herself. She puts her body on the line over and over again and her faith NEVER wavers… heh… Waverly… I made a funny.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (classic)

Wuthering Heights

I love this book because it’s not a romance. I love this book because the characters are all selfish and self-destructive, and completely ruin the lives of those they purport to love. It’s a story of two incredibly selfish people who can’t just love each other but have to hurt everyone around them as well. I think the destruction they cause from their actions is really cool. They’re like little hurricanes sweeping the secondary characters along for the ride. There’s so much drama confined in two houses on the Yorkshire moors that it leaves me wondering why doesn’t this book explode from sheer awesomeness.

Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead (YA paranormal)

Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy, #1)

It’s not the story per say that makes this novel so good. It’s the clear writing, the immersion into Rose’s head (and occasionally, Lissa’s), and most importantly (to me), the politics of royalty and high school, the politics between the Moroi and their dhampirs schoolmates, and the whole relationship between Rose and Lissa. This is the best high school book I’ve read, because it goes in-depth into reputations and rumours, and the dirty business behind popularity.

August is the Book Birthday month for my first novel, The Edge of Darkness, a deep-space cyborg dystopian.
Please go here for your chance to win a paperback copy.
Ends September 30.

My Top 5 Favourite Fantasy Books

Touch of Power by Maria V Snyder

I think my review went something along the lines of: OMG *flail* FANGIRL *flail* some more.

Avry steps into leadership positions when she needs to, kicks ass when she needs to, and comforts and mothers when she needs to. She’s got a great balance of feminine and masculine traits, and she’s neither an uber-warrior nor a damsel in distress. She grows throughout the novel as well. She’s like… my perfect heroine that I never wrote.

Draykon by Charlotte E English

Draykon (Draykon, #1)

My review of Draykon was roughly the same as my review for Touch of Power.

Charlotte has an obvious gift for beautiful prose and many a time I caught myself drooling over her wonderfully constructed sentences.

Entwined by Heather Dixon

Entwined

I’m pretty sure this was more of the same.

Once I opened the book, I was blown away. Just blown away. I did not expect this calibre, wit, and execution. The characters were simply gorgeous. The writing was incredible. And the humour! I have never laughed out loud so many damn times in a novel that wasn’t 1) a comedy or 2) written by a comedian. It’s just… the humour! The fluff! The witty comebacks and fantastic situations!

Fire by Kristen Cashore

Fire (Graceling Realm, #2)

This novel broke my heart.

Fire’s character development was really awesome. I’m so sad that people put this book down half way through. She grows magnificently both in personality, character, and power. She makes her own choices, and even when her choice is taken away from her, she manages to gain control of the situation.

Talyn by Holly Lisle

Talyn (Korre, #1)

Holly Lisle taught me everything I know about writing. ~~Literally~~.

August is the Book Birthday month for my first novel, The Edge of Darkness, a deep-space cyborg dystopian.
Please go here for your chance to win a paperback copy.
Ends September 30.

My 3 Favourite Literature Trilogies

Please note, all of the following are fantasy novels, but I can’t stand traditional wizards in pointy hats with elves and trolls etc type fantasy. To draw me in, a fantasy trilogy has to offer me something very different, and I feel that the five I have picked, although you can find them in the fantasy section of the library or bookshop, all offer a different take on fantasy, from gothic to heroic to plain out of this world. The imagination involved in building these five different worlds are just phenomenal.

1. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

Note – Outside the US, The Golden Compass is known as Northern Lights.
I adored this trilogy. I read it when I was sixteen. I reread it every year. Every time I reread it I discover something new. It is the deepest experience of any literature I have ever read. There are so many layers. Simultaneously, it can also be approached as a children’s adventure story. Lyra, and her companion Pantalaimon, face a series of adolescent and not-quite-so-adolescent trials as they set off to save Lyra’s best friend from an evil organisation, and eventually go on to save not just their world, but every world in every universe. It not only asks some big questions, but offers answers as well – and that’s why religious people hate it. Personally, I think it’s an educational tool in the understanding of brainwashing young people into unconditionally accepting religion. It asks people to question the rules that govern society. The Golden Compass was made into a moderately successful movie, but because of the heavy anti-campaigning from the religious right (because the novel suggests people question religion and – so it is claimed – the two heroes in The Subtle Knife kill God, where in fact they do NOT, God is elderly and dies a natural death… sorry to give that away but it pisses me off that people who haven’t even read the book try to campaign against it) The Subtle Knife film is not going ahead.

2. The Old Kingdom by Garth Nix

Note – In the US, the trilogy is simply known as The Abhorsen Trilogy.
This is truly a masterpiece, an epic piece of literature by one of Australia’s best fantasy writers. Simultaneously a tale about women’s power and coming of age mixed with horror and a rollickingly good plot, I devoured the first two when recommended by a friend, then had to wait impatiently for several years before Abhorsen was written to complete the trilogy. Originally, Sabriel was written as a stand-alone, and is an original take on the standard hero’s journey, while the other two more concentrate on two people finding their place in a world where they feel like outcasts. The take on how magic works is incredible as well, and it mixes the magic world (the Old Kingdom) with a non-magical world, separated by a wall. I don’t want to give much away about the plot, but I suggest you go and read read read, because Nix is on par with the great fantasy writers like Tolkien and Lewis. It’s an incredible story that is spread over all three books, but can be read as three separate stand-alones; and everything is neatly wrapped up at the end. Only a master storyteller can do this.

3. The Isles of Glory by Glenda Larke

This is another fantastic trilogy from an Australian author that mixes magic and science together in a fantasy world separated by a strict breeding program. Blaze Halfbreed is a magnificent lead female, and totally one of the coolest warrior women I have ever read about. I really identify with her frustrations on being a 6 feet tall woman. I love the relationship developed between her and Flame, as it is a heterosexual female friendship you don’t see much of in fantasy. Warrior women tend to clash with other females in fantasy. Some kind of competitive thing, I think. Magic is approached in a way that eventually shows the good guys as the manipulators, much like the way I see capitalism.

August is the Book Birthday month for my first novel, The Edge of Darkness, a deep-space cyborg dystopian.
Please go here for your chance to win a paperback copy.
Ends September 30.

And We’re Done! (Again)

So after a month and a half of gruelling editing where I have totally shirked my August Camp NaNoWriMo aspirations, I have finally completed the newest, shiniest draft of Storm of Blood.

It’s going off to some loyal and totally fantastic beta readers ahead of it landing in the lap of my shiny editor in a couple of months.

I am so relieved! This year has been so difficult, what with my grandfather dying (I so cannot deal with grief narratives right now), moving to Australia, finding employment, dealing with said employment (some times I just need to relax!), and planning a wedding. I seem to be the kind of person who puts so much effort into what I do, a perfectionist attitude, that I have no energy for anything else other than what I’m working on at the time. I have no idea how other writers manage to do it. Most of the time I feel like I’m barely keeping my head above the water.

But yay! And also, these characters? Tina and Ten won’t leave me alone. They’re already harassing me for a new book. Jeez, guys! I just finished the last one! Give me some time to relax.

My Favourite Classics

My favourite classics, in no particular order, are:

1. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, 1877

This was the first adult novel I ever read. I can’t even remember how old I was, but it seemed like an enormous book to me. I was perhaps six or seven. It was given to me by some relative because I had a major thing for horses when I was a child, to the point that I eventually made my mother promise me that if we even moved to the country and had the room, she’d buy me a horse. This promise didn’t happen until I was a teenager, though, and all through my childhood I was a bit surly when it came to what I wanted. Every chance of a wish (birthday, first star of the night) I wished I had my own horse. Of course, when my mother finally did make the promise, it cheered me up on end and put me in a better state of mind. It didn’t matter that we would never move to the country: I needed the option open anyway. This book taught me about cruelty to animals, and I always make sure it is with me on airplanes.

2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, 1847

I love this classic with a passion. I love the turbulence of the lovers and the choices that Cathy made. I love the story of Cathy and Heathcliff so much more than any boring Mr Darcy or any of his boorish incarnations (aka Edward Cullen). I love how it is told from numerous perspectives out of chronological order. It doesn’t hurt that Heathcliff is brought home from Mr Earnshaw’s trip to Liverpool, which is where I now live. I love the relationships between each of the characters, and how each of them carries their own flaws, and I love the idea of the society out there on the moors. It took me a while to track a decent copy down, but when I did, I found it irresistibly hard to put down. This is one book I try to reread every year. Incidentally, I also thoroughly enjoyed the BBC Yorkshire telemovie adaptation released in 2009. I felt this was a very accurate representation of the book and the casting was top notch. It really boiled down the plot to the bare essentials and would be a good point of reference for those who are unable to read the book, for whatever reason.

3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, 1847

I love this plucky little heroine, and I love the fact that she’s not the most beautiful girl on the planet and I love the fact that she falls in love with Edward Rochester who is not the most handsome of men. That’s real love for you. I love how Jane overcomes all her trials to become a stronger woman. I really enjoyed reading about her childhood as well as her adult life. I also love that she experiences both poverty and personal wealth, and how her and Mr Rochester end up swapping positions and she takes him in after he loses everything. Their marriage is one of perfect equality and seems like a good example for many to follow. I read this for a university course, and my lecturer advised us to read one chapter at a time. It was hard to only read one chapter and then put the book down, though, because it totally engrossed me. Reading it that way, though, helped me to digest it properly and appreciate it more than Wuthering Heights, which I powered through.