Review: The Dark Wife

The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer
YA/Adult crossover, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, 264 pages, Createspace
Goodreads | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

• Why I read it: old myth new twist, Persephone, LGBTQ
• Disclosure: Received a review copy from the author. Thanks!

Goodreads blurb:

Three thousand years ago, a god told a lie. Now, only a goddess can tell the truth.Persephone has everything a daughter of Zeus could want--except for freedom. She lives on the green earth with her mother, Demeter, growing up beneath the ever-watchful eyes of the gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus. But when Persephone meets the enigmatic Hades, she experiences something new: choice.Zeus calls Hades "lord" of the dead as a joke. In truth, Hades is the goddess of the underworld, and no friend of Zeus. She offers Persephone sanctuary in her land of the dead, so the young goddess may escape her Olympian destiny.But Persephone finds more than freedom in the underworld. She finds love, and herself.The Dark Wife is a YA novel, a lesbian revisionist retelling of the Persephone and Hades myth.

Judged by its Cover: Totally gorgeous! I'd kill to see more covers illustrated like this in YA. The red pomegranate really makes it pop, and I love both the title and author fonts.


The Long...


There are a lot of Persephone retellings cropping up nowadays, aren't there? First she got a cameo in the Percy Jackson series. Then The Goddess Test (link to my review) came along with its own version of the myth, plus a Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca sort of twist. And now I hear Meg Cabot put her spin on it in Abandon (link to Goodreads), which I have yet to read, but does in fact look pretty awesome. The story of Persephone is one of my favorite Greek myths of all time. I'm pretty psyched to see it get so much play in the YA world. And I'm especially psyched to see it get the sensitive, genuinely original and affecting treatment it receives in The Dark Wife.


It's incredible how well Diemer can take a fairly familiar myth and translate it to something entirely fresh and beautiful. Would I have envisioned the original, with all its undertones of rape and misogyny, as a girl power viva la revolution lesbian story? Not in a million years. Thankfully, Diemer has more imagination than I, because the world of Olympus, the Underworld, and Persephone's childhood is lush and unlike any other I've read.

I especially admire Diemer's courage in continuing in the footsteps of Malinda Lo's fantastic Ash in trailblazing lesbian YA. If you want to read some wonderfully honest thoughts on the difficulty and necessity of this, I couldn't recommend that you follow her blog Muse Rising more highly. There is a lot to be said for craft and technical mastery; in fact, we do not have a book worth reading without it. But there is also a lot to be said for sheer gutsyness and doing something new, both qualities I have found severely lacking in YA of late, and thankfully qualities Diemer has in spades.

Yes, there were some technical problems. Yes, the story moved a little faster and more confusingly than I thought it should. Yes, I wasn't as wholly absorbed as I thought I'd be. But Diemer's writing is lovely and nuanced enough that I can't wait to pick up more of her work in the future, and this novella is short enough that you really have no excuse not to give it a try. If this were the Sundance Film Festival, The Dark Wife would be my choice for the Originality of Vision prize.


...and the Short.


Lovely, unique, and brave, it's well-worth your time despite some technical troubles.

The Final Word: Liked It!

The Dark Wife is available now!

Mini-reviews: Finnikin of the Rock and Incarceron

Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta
YA, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, 416 pages, Candlewick Press
Goodreads | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

• Why I read it: Melina Marchetta fangrrl, swords and sorcery, nostalgia
• Disclosure: Checked out a copy from my local library. Huzzah! Libraries are awesome.

Goodreads blurb:

At the age of nine, Finnikin is warned by the gods that he must sacrifice a pound of flesh to save his kingdom. He stands on the rock of the three wonders with his friend Prince Balthazar and Balthazar's cousin, Lucian, and together they mix their blood to safeguard Lumatere. But all safety is shattered during the five days of the unspeakable, when the king and queen and their children are brutally murdered in the palace. An impostor seizes the throne, a curse binds all who remain inside Lumatere's walls, and those who escape are left to roam the land as exiles, dying by the thousands in fever camps. Ten years later, Finnikin is summoned to another rock--to meet Evanjalin, a young novice with a startling claim: Balthazar, heir to the throne of Lumatere, is alive. This arrogant young woman claims she'll lead Finnikin and his mentor, Sir Topher, to the prince. Instead, her leadership points them perilously toward home. Does Finnikin dare believe that Lumatere might one day rise united? Evanjalin is not what she seems, and the startling truth will test Finnikin's faith not only in her but in all he knows to be true about himself and his destiny. In a bold departure from her acclaimed contemporary novels, Printz Medalist Melina Marchetta has crafted an epic fantasy of ancient magic, feudal intrigue, romance, and bloodshed that will rivet you from the first page.

Review:

When I found out Melina Marchetta had written a fantasy book, my reaction was similar to what I'm sure the reaction of 99% of YA fans was: a heady, heady blend of terror and anticipation. Because it was either going to be really, really awesome, or it was going to really, really suck. And thank goodness, it fell on the awesome side of the equation. How could I ever have doubted the genius of the author that brought us Jellicoe Road?

What makes it really special for fantasy and Marchetta fans alike is its mixture of fantasy conventions, like epic journeys, odd mythology, unpronounceable names, and bawdy humor, with things I wouldn't hardly associate with fantasy at all, like a genuinely kickass heroine, high diplomacy, and scorching sexiness. Scorching. Not in a smutty way, but in a hardcore Melina-Marchetta-ratchets-up-the-romantic-tension-till-you-can't-hardly-stand-it-a-la-Jellicoe sort of way. I was rooting for Finnikin and Evanjalin the whole way through, and the ending was so perfect there may have been happy tears. I honestly can't say if I'd rather Marchetta go back to contemporary or keep writing fantasy - she's obviously incredible at both. (What is it with all these Australian writers and amazing YA? I smell a conspiracy.)

The Final Word: Loved it!

***

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

YA, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, 458 pages, Hodder's Children's Books

Goodreads | IndieBound | Barnes & Noble

• Why I read it: Hype, like clockwork, angsty boys with amnesia, arranged marriages
• Disclosure: ALSO a copy from my local library. I <3 libraries!

Goodreads blurb:

Incarceron -- a futuristic prison, sealed from view, where the descendants of the original prisoners live in a dark world torn by rivalry and savagery. It is a terrifying mix of high technology -- a living building which pervades the novel as an ever-watchful, ever-vengeful character, and a typical medieval torture chamber -- chains, great halls, dungeons. A young prisoner, Finn, has haunting visions of an earlier life, and cannot believe he was born here and has always been here. In the outer world, Claudia, daughter of the Warden of Incarceron, is trapped in her own form of prison -- a futuristic world constructed beautifully to look like a past era, an imminent marriage she dreads. She knows nothing of Incarceron, except that it exists. But there comes a moment when Finn, inside Incarceron, and Claudia, outside, simultaneously find a device -- a crystal key, through which they can talk to each other. And so the plan for Finn's escape is born ...

Review:

Incarceron may not have knocked my socks off quite the way Finnikin of the Rock did - has Finn just been universally decided upon as a really excellent name for brooding fantasy heroes, by the way? - but that doesn't mean it wasn't a terrific fantasy read in its own right. While Marchetta seemed to focus more on her characters, Fisher set about creating a wholly unique and beautiful world instead, and that's what kept me racing through the pages until the very end. I'm not quite sure how to describe it. One part future technology and improvised scrappiness a la cyberpunk and steampunk, another part quaint historical in the Georgian era, and another part of sheer moxie on the author's part equal one very happy Maggie.

It's been a long time since I've read such a rip-roaring adventure story that, while slow-moving, kept me so wholly engaged. While I saw the big reveal coming at the end from a mile away, Fisher's writing is intricate enough and her characters likable enough to permit me to forgive just about anything. And while I was a little disappointed that Fisher resorted to a cliffhanger at the end - I would have been picking up the sequel, Sapphique, anyway - the ending still was enough to give me chills. A lovely throwback to the YA fantasy of Cornelia Funke and Philip Pullman that I can't wait to introduce to my younger brothers and sisters.

The Final Word: Loved it!

*A note on my new rating system: I am now using "Loved it," "Liked it," "Meh," and "Not for Me" in place of a star system. Please keep leaving feedback on my new review format in the comments while I work out the kinks!

Scott Westerfeld at the Wild Rumpus!

YOU GUYS. You guys. Do you know who kind of sort of makes my science fiction fangrrl life? If you guessed Scott Westerfeld, author of Uglies, Pretties, Peeps, So Yesterday, Leviathan, Behemoth, and Goliath, better known as some of my favorite YA sci-fi of all time, then you would be ABSOLUTELY CORRECT.

Here you can see that Scott Westerfeld is signing my books. What you cannot see is me unequivocally freaking out. 

I happened to be in the Twin Cities area last weekend for a Friday night performance of The Rocky Horror Show at The Lab Theater in Minneapolis (which was awesome; I highly recommend it), and when I found out that he would be signing at the Wild Rumpus bookstore that Saturday, I texted the friend that had introduced me to his books in the first place and made plans.

Commence freaking out.

I'm the short one on the left. No snarky caption necessary.

I'm not even sure how they fit all the fans in the bookstore. I'm no good with numbers, but there were at least 60 people crammed into the back of the shop where he was speaking, and there might have been more that came in towards the end for the signing. I was towards the front of the line, so I don't know. 

Considering that at least 7-8 of those people were cosplaying as Alek, Deryn, Dr. Barlow, and even some Leviathan characters I couldn't identify at all, that's a lot of nerd shaming to be contained under one roof. Fellow Westerfeld Fan Friend of Mine and I thought about saying we were cosplaying as Pretties, but then decided that that would be more than a little obnoxious and settled for total reverence instead.

Not that total reverence was difficult. Not only did Scott speak for what felt like forever (in a good way), he also took tons of time to take fan questions (including mine). He made some fantastic points about illustrations in novels and the so-called death of imagination and was also funny as hell, and I can't emphasize enough that if you get the chance to go see him, you totally should. You can find his remaining tour dates here.

It should also go without saying that Goliath is even more awesome than Leviathan and Behemoth (links to my reviews), which I didn't even think was possible, and that you should run out and buy yourself a copy right now. That should be enough to distract you from my miserable lack of blogging until I can stop being lazy get my feet back under me, right? Right.

Happy reading, folks, and I hope to be back to a regular blogging schedule soon!