Book release frustration

You know how there are sometimes books that you are just waiting to come out with a great sense of anticpation?? I have a few of those, but despite the fact that I check the online stores and the library catalogue every couple of days, they don't seem to be showing the titles I am waiting for. Today, I took it a step further to see whether I could track down any information on the publisher's website, and I have to say, the news wasn't that great!

The Death Mask by Ariana Franklin won't be released here until May 15 - it came out in other countries in December last year, under a different title I know but surely that doesn't justify such a delay surely.

Also released late last year was Libba Bray's The Sweet Far Thing. Is it going to be released here. Well, yes, but not until 1 July! Six months after the rest of the world! Gah!

No sign at all of a release date for The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig.

Usually it doesn't matter so much, but I am awaiting these anxiously!


What books are other people waiting for with great anticipation?

The End is Here

As I think can become clear through the majority of my reviews this year, because I read a lot of fantasy, I read a lot of series and trilogies. They believe that this sells better, so it is very rare to pick up a book and have it stand-alone. This means that I always have several series on the go, and I am hardly ever caught up in any of them. I could only read fantasy all this year and still not catch up on all the series I want to read. Frankly, more often than not, if I really like a series or trilogy the last book will sit on the shelf looking all pretty until I am reading to say good-bye to the characters properly. I hate to rush it because you can revisit, but you will never have that first read moment again. So, the last book is often the saddest moment for me, especially if I am really enjoying the experience.

Yesterday, I finished off what has quickly become one of my favourite young adult trilogies, and I had a real battle. Sometimes I wanted to fly through it to see what was going to happen next, and other times I just put it down because once I reached the end, there would be no more. One of the more interesting things about waiting for the final book in a series is that you get to think about what could happen next, and then you find yourself writing some of the scenes that you would like to see in your head. I really hope I am not the only one that does that! Yesterday saw the conclusion of Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle trilogy. There are other young adult books that I have enjoyed, but from the moment that I sat down with A Great and Terrible Beauty last year, I knew it was love. I loved all three books in this trilogy, which rarely happens for me. When it does, you know I am even sadder to see it end, because writing a strong second book in a trilogy is really hard to do. So, I was very sad to close the pages on The Sweet Far Thing.

IT HAS BEEN A YEAR OF CHANGE since Gemma Doyle arrived at the foreboding Spence Academy. Her mother murdered, her father a
laudanum addict, Gemma has relied on an unsuspected strength and has discovered an ability to travel to an enchanted world called the realms, where dark magic runs wild. Despite certain peril, Gemma has bound the magic to herself and forged unlikely new alliances. Now, as Gemma approaches her London debut, the time has come to test these bonds.

The Order - the mysterious group her mother was once part of - is grappling for control of the realms, as is the Rakshana. Spence's burned East Wing is being rebuilt, but why now? Gemma and her friends see Pippa, but she is not the same. And their friendship faces its gravest trial as Gemma must decide once and for all what role she is meant for.

The biggest problem with gulping down this book was that even if she were to write something else, I am going to have to wait two years to see what it is! It was a chunkster, coming in at about 800 pages. I had intended to read short books, where I was so close to my goal of reading 200 books, but when I picked this book up, I knew I was going to have to read it. I had been waiting a year to see what was going to happen next, so I just had to know. Did everything happen as I thought it would? Not exactly, but I still enjoyed the read. There were a couple things that I had wished would play out differently, that is for sure. Part of me is still wondering if I liked the ending, because it did not end like I was hoping it would end, but at the same time the ending did not surprise me. It was not a terrible ending, just not what I wanted. So, I suppose I should stop whinning and just accept it.

This book follows Gemma Doyle in her last year at Spence Academy. The years have been rough for her since arriving there about a year ago. Her mother died, and it was her wish that if something happened to her, Gemma would be sent to Spence. This did not put a cheerful frame on the events that occurred for her. She did make friends, though. The headstrong Felicity, the meek and quiet Anne, and the lovely Pippa. To these girls, Gemma opened up a whole new world that had previously been closed to them and showed them that their dreams were possible. This book is sort of a coming of age tale, but, more importantly, it is about a young girl battling the forces of evil. Gemma can be a bit annoying at times. Her age and immaturity make appearances throughout the novel, but then it is hard to say what people will do when they are faced with something unusual like magical powers.

I think this book does a very good job tidying up the loose ends. You see more from characters than you have in previous books. Some of this might even surprise you. I found the book a page-turner for the most part, probably because I really liked the trilogy and I was really curious how Bray was going to end it. There was also probably a tiny hope that she would leave it open for a fourth book, but while I think there could be another one, I do not think there is a plan for another. Characters from the other two books will reappear. There are actually very few new characters in this novel. Bray is very good about closing everything up, even little storylines that could have got lost in the larger ones. Overall, I think she did a fantastic job and for the moment, this is my favourite young adult trilogy.

You should read it!

Rebel Angels by Libba Bray

This is the sequel to A Great and Terrible Beauty.

From Random House: (too lazy to type the flap)

Gemma Doyle is looking forward to a holiday from Spence Academy—spending time with her friends in the city, attending balls in fancy gowns with plunging necklines, and dallying with the handsome Lord Denby. Yet amid these distractions, her visions intensify—visions of three girls dressed in white, to whom something horrific has happened that only the realms can explain.

The lure is strong, and soon Gemma, Felicity, and Ann are turning flowers into butterflies in the enchanted world that Gemma takes them to. To the girls' great joy, their beloved Pippa is there as well, eager to complete their circle of friendship.

But all is not well in the realms—or out. Kartik is back, desperately insisting to Gemma that she must bind the magic, lest colossal disaster befall her. Gemma is willing to comply, for this would bring her face-to-face with her late mother's greatest friend, now Gemma's foe—Circe. Until Circe is destroyed, Gemma cannot live out her destiny. But finding Circe proves a most perilous task. . . .

This sumptuous companion to A Great and Terrible Beauty teems with Victorian thrills and chills that play out against the rich backdrop of 1895 London, a place of shadows and light . . . where inside great beauty can lie a rebel angel.

They call it on the book a companion to A Great and Terrible Beauty, but it really takes place 2 months after the events from the previous book, so I think it is better termed as a sequel. And there better be another sequel because I really enjoyed this book!

A lot happens in this novel. It is a bit longer than the first book, which I found great because it was more to enjoy. The same characters are present: Gemma, Felicity, and Ann are still attending Spence and dealing with being teenagers, as they are sixteen years old when this book takes place. They come from different lives and different backgrounds, which makes their interactions more interesting. Gemma lost her mother in the first book and her father is dealing with sustance abuse. Her grandmother wants what is best for her, but can be rather uptight, and her brother is rather shallow. Felicity's mother was in France for the first book, but is back around. We also meet her beloved father in this book, but looks can be deceiving. And then there is Ann, totally alone in the world and living on the charity of others. She begins to gain confidence in this book and really shine.

Pippa and Kartik are back. Pippa got left behind in the realms in book one, so she is a different character than she was in the first book. You are never really sure what to make of her, and what has happened to her really bothers Gemma. Kartrik is one of my favourite characters. Gemma is upper-class and can treat him rather badly, but I like him. I think he adds an interesting aspect to the books. In this one, Gemma has to figure out where he stands in her circle.

It was a very well-written book, that just grabbed you. I could not put it down after I get a bit of a ways into it, and when I did, I was thinking about when I would be able to read it again. I read most of it today while I should have been doing a million other things, but anyways. It was too good to put down. In the last book, Gemma had to destroy the things that held the magic in the realms, and now it is causing problems that she is the only one that can fix. It is really a novel where she has to figure out who she can trust, who her real friends are, and what she is truly capable of. All the girls begin to really grow up and find themselves in this book.

I think everyone that likes a good, slightly fantastic novel should read this book. It will hold you until the very last page.

For more information, go here: Random House.

5/5 (a rare thing from me for a young adult book, and no idea what I will do if I like book 3 even more!)

Marg says:

Having read and enjoyed A Great and Terrible Beauty last year, I have been patiently waiting for this book to come into the library, and so was very excited when finally, not too long ago, it finally came onto the library catalogue.

So, after all that anticipation, was it worth the wait? Well yes, and no.

The school year is coming to an end for all of the young women at Spence Boarding school, and Gemma and her friends are looking forward to spending Christmas in London - after all what girl wouldn't love all the balls and the opera and all those tea times. Even young Anne manages to get an invite to London, only by making up an incredible story about her identity, but all three girls eventually find themselves in London.

Gemma's visit to London starts really well when she meets the deliciously eligible and dashing Simon Middleton - a member of one of the best families in London. Simon has taken a liking to Gemma, and she to him, but she must not allow herself to get too distracted - after all she still has to track down the mysterious Circe, bind the power in the realms and keep up all the necessary appearances of a very proper young Victorian lady.

One of the benefits of moving the setting away from Spence for most of the book is that there are a wide variety more settings that are available to the author - from the dingy parts of London where no proper young lady would ever go, to the opera, to Bedlam, to shopping in strange little book shops. There is also more scope with interaction with other characters such as the families of the girls, where some time was spent on some quite sensitive issues including but not limited to addiction.

Within the realms as well the story was expanded during this book. When the white door opens to Gemma and her friends they do find themselves in the part of the realm that they are familiar with, including Pippa, their friend who was left behind - but are things really the same. Gemma has found a young girl in Bedlam who has some knowledge of the realms and she and others are constantly warning Gemma to find the Temple and bind the magic, but to be careful of who she trusts, particularly as everything in the realms is out of balance at the moment. As the girls travel further into the realms they find more and more interesting tribes, some of whom are more interesting than others, and some who are far more dangerous than others. Can Gemma and her friends find the temple and bind the power before Circe does, and if they do, who should they bind the power in the name of . Is the Order to be trusted, is there another one who should be holding the power, or perhaps should it be shared.

Along the way Gemma needs to figure out who she can trust. Can she trust Simon to love her no matter what her strange powers may be? Can she trust Kartik, or is his first loyalty to others? And can she trust herself with the power that she has, or will it overwhelm her?

I think that this book was more fast paced than the first one, with lots more situations where Gemma and her friends could have found themselves in danger. In particular they spent a lot more time in the Realms in this book. In my opinion the book was less balanced than the first one was and in some way I think that this affected my concentration. To be honest, I think that once again this was more about my frame of mind as opposed to the book, but that's what I felt so therefore that is what I am basing my review and rating on!

I did enjoy it, but not quite as much as I enjoyed the first one. I am however just as eager to get hold of the new book, The Sweet Far Thing, which is due out in September.

Rating 4/5

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

A young adult, soon to be, trilogy that I have wanted to read for a while, this enters the marks as one of the better books I have read this year. Young adult books are much better than they were when I was a young adult, I know that much.

From the back of the book:

Gemma Doyle isn't like other girls. Girls with impeccable manners, who speak when spoken to, who remember their station, and who will lie back and think of England when it's required of them.

No, sixteen-year-old Gemma is an island unto herself, sent to the Spence Academy in London after tragedy strikes her family in India. Lonely, guilt-ridden, and prone to visions of the future that have an uncomfortable habit of coming true, Gemma finds a chilly reception. But she's not completely alone... she's followed by a mysterious young man, who warns her to close her mind against her visions.

For it's at Spence that Gemma's power to attract the supernatural unfolds; there she becomes entangled with the school's most powerful girls and discovers her mother's connection to a shadowy group called the Order. It's there that her destiny waits... if only she can believe in it.

A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY is a curl-up-under-the-covers kind of book... a vast canvs of rustling skirts and dancing shadows and things that go bump in the night. It's a vividly drawn portrait of the Victorian age, when girls were groomed for lives as rich men's wives... and the story of a girl who saw another way.

I regret that it took me so long to discover this book. I had heard of it, but it never grabbed my attention enough to buy it until recently. Now, I can't wait to read the next one and I hope it will be equally good. Young adult novels have come a long way, some of them are even better than novels marketed at adults.

This novel was attractive to me because people were saying it had fantasy elements to it. I enjoy fantasy novels, so I decided to see what these fantasy elements were. This book takes place in the later part of the 19th-century. The main character, Gemma Doyle, is dealing with being a sixteen-year-old. Teenage years are never easy, and with the last few months has brought a very difficult daughter for Gemma's mother. They used to get along, but now Gemma has it stuck in her head that she absolutely has to go to London. Her mother doesn't agree, and this causes lots of conflict between mother and daughter.

Then one day, everything changes for good. While in the marketplace, Gemma says a horrible thing to her mother and the next thing she knows, her mother is not around anymore to argue with. Gemma blames herself, and is racked with guilt for quite some time. She is her most annoying at this part of the book, while she deals with the loss of her mother. But then, she discovers she has an amazing gift that results in a whole other world for her. A young man, who you will find an interesting member of the cast of characters, follows Gemma to London where Gemma is attending Spence Academy.

When Gemma first arrives in London, she wonders why she ever really wanted to go there in the first place, but then she starts to make friends and lets her powers work, and a whole new world is open to her, a world of adventure and danger. She is in a school where girls are supposed to be learning how to be good wives, they are more interested in pleasing their men folk than doing anything for themselves. Gemma soon learns this is not the way that she wants to spend her life.

I hope I am not making this novel sound silly, it is anything but. I was glued to my seat while I was reading this, waiting to see what adventures would happen to the quartet next. As Gemma is not alone when she has her adventures, most times she has her three female friends with her. They are an interesting group, but they each have something to bring to the novel as a whole.

I can't wait to read the sequel!

4.5/5



Marg says:

When Gemma's mother dies after there were harsh words spoken between them, Gemma finds herself at Spence, an English boarding school whose main aim is to produce young ladies who will be prized catches during the season, and find worth husbands. Feeling incredibly lonely and ostracized, Gemma struggles to make friends and to make sense of the strange visions that she has had. As events spiral out of control, can Gemma and her friends make the correct decisions to maintain both their friendship, and their lives.

I wish I could remember where I first saw this book, so that I could thank the person who bought it to my attention. What a little gem of a book! With a tone that is moody and atmospheric, almost gothic and so fitting! The last book that I remember reading that conveyed this kind of sense of impending events was the Australian classic "Picnic at Hanging Rock".

With interesting locales (both in India and then at Spence school), the world that Gemma (and the reader) is introduced to following the tragic death of her mother is one where anything can happen, both good and bad, and is an interesting look at the consequences of getting what you think you want.

And yet, as gloomy as that may sound, there were sections of fun, delight fantasy and growing friendship between the girls. In some ways this book could be a gothic/fantasy/historical version of the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants books. Both explore friendship and a growing sense of self, and are marketed as Young Adult books, although I was a little surprised at a couple of the scenes that were in this one, as I felt that it might be pushing the YA label a bit far!

The sequel to this book is already out - called "Rebel Angels", I will definitely be looking out for it to continue the adventures of Gemma and her friends.

Rating 4.5/5

Today Is the Day!

One of my favourite young adult authors is the wonderful Libba Bray. I read A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels by her last year. I loved both of them, so I am thrilled that today is the day when book three is released everywhere but here. The stores here are closed today, so I have to wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow will be the busiest shopping day... It will be interesting, but I want to see what happens next, so I will be braving the crowds for The Sweet Far Thing.

IT HAS BEEN A YEAR OF CHANGE since Gemma Doyle arrived at the foreboding Spence Academy. Her mother murdered, her father a
laudanum addict, Gemma has relied on an unsuspected strength and has discovered an ability to travel to an enchanted world called the realms, where dark magic runs wild. Despite certain peril, Gemma has bound the magic to herself and forged unlikely new alliances. Now, as Gemma approaches her London debut, the time has come to test these bonds.

The Order - the mysterious group her mother was once part of - is grappling for control of the realms, as is the Rakshana. Spence's burned East Wing is being rebuilt, but why now? Gemma and her friends see Pippa, but she is not the same. And their friendship faces its gravest trial as Gemma must decide once and for all what role she is meant for.

I hope this book is as good as the first two! For me, this trilogy is much better than Stephenie Meyer's series, but that is just me. I might repost my reviews of A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels in the next couple days. Hopefully if I can get her new book tomorrow I will have a review up of that as well!