Tamora Pierce
I decided to rewrite a scene from this book from the viewpoint of a different character: in this case, the main character's scent hound, Achoo.
I was running through the cart-place, pulling gulps of air in through my nose to be sure I was on the right scent. I could hear my two-leg pack-mate Beka following behind me, and further back the other two-leggers on horses. I probably smelled other things, too, but we were on a Hunt. I’m not supposed to pay attention to anything but the scent we’re following when we’re on a Hunt, so I didn’t let myself get distracted. The scent led away from the cart-place into the weeds. I tried to follow it, but I heard Beka telling me to wait. I growled. I didn’t want to wait. I wanted to find the boy!
Beka stopped to make scratches in the dirt for the other two-leggers to see (two-leggers are so slow!), but our star-cat Pounce said something to her and she stood up again. Then she told me to go slowly. Why couldn’t she just keep up? I wanted to go.
We came out onto a bit of grass in between the tree-places. I could smell the trail leading straight ahead. I started to run after it when Beka yelled for me to stop. She sounded frantic, so I stopped and looked back. She came running up to me and grabbed my collar, babbling on about something and pointing. I don’t really understand her unless she speaks in our language of commands, but I looked where she pointed. Now that I wasn’t focused on the Hunt I was able to pay attention to the other smell that had been plaguing my nose.
A deer and her baby lay on the grass, along with lots of other small animals. They were…. Burned. That was the other smell – burned meat. Beka took a stone and tossed it across the place. It glowed like a fire-spark and smoked.
Beka gave me the cloth with the boy’s scent on it again. I didn’t really need it – I knew he was behind that line of cooking-magic. Beka led me back to the cart-place. I whined. Pounce told me we were waiting for the others so the man-who-glowed-inside could look at the cooking-magic. I whuffed in despair. I liked the man-who-glowed-inside, but waiting for him always meant letting the trail get colder.
Back we went to the cooking-magic place. The man-who-glowed-inside stuck his hand into the magic, which made it catch on fire, but he put it out. After she was sure he was okay Beka yelled at him. She hates when two-leggers do stupid things. Everyone stood around and dithered for a while. I lay down and watched. Finally the man-who-glowed-inside pointed at the magic and said something, and the magic exploded. I jumped up and shook the ringing out of my ears. The way was clear and I had the scent in my nose. I sneezed. Time to go.
Stravaganza
Mary Hoffman
(Grade 9 Kits: Time Travel)
I've read almost all of this series, so I'll do a sort of mini-summary of each book. They're all really good: I'd recommend them to anyone into fantasy/adventure/sort of medieval-style books.
City of Masks
Lucien Mulholland used to be a normal sixteen-year-old boy. Until he was diagnosed with cancer, which pretty much changed the life of his entire family. His parents are pulling away from each other and Lucien, and there's not really anything he can do about it, even though it's not his fault.
The story opens as Lucien is going through chemotherapy. The treatment leaves him very weak and sometimes unable to talk, so one day his dad brings him a spiral-bound notebook to write in. That night Lucien falls asleep with the book in his hand, only to wake up in.... Venice? No, not Venice, Belleza. The Talian equivalent of Venice. Lucien has been transported two hundred years back in time to an alternate world -- a journey known as stravagation. He finds himself in a world of secrets, magic, fireworks, and a plot to kill the Duchessa.
City of Stars
Georgia has a problem. Her stepbrother is bullying her. He has been for years, but he's never been caught. Her only escape from the problem is horseback riding and the secret world of Talia, a place she enters with the help of a small figure of a winged horse. She stravagates to the city of Remora, the Talian version of Siena. There she meets Falco di Chimici, a young prince with a crippled leg and a wish to ride a horse again, Cesare Montalbani, a jockey in the annual horse race ( the Stellata) and the nobleman Luciano, who is dead in Georgia's world but alive and well in Talia. Things come to a head when Cesare is kidnapped and Georgia must fill his place in the Stellata.
City of Flowers
Sky walks up his driveway one afternoon to find a perfume bottle sitting on his front step. He's got no idea where it came from, but something about it speaks to him. That night he falls asleep while holding it. He finds himself in the Talian city of Giglia, the county's perfume capital. It's rather chaotic at the moment, what with four di Chimici weddings coming soon, the blood feud between the di Chimici and the Nucci families coming to a head, and the Duke determined to kill Luciano (who is visiting with the Duchessa of Belleza for the weddings) because he thinks Luciano had a hand in 'killing' his son, Falco. At home, Sky's dealing with a sick mother, an long-time absent father who has suddenly reappeared, and a girlfriend who doesn't understand why he can't spend any time with her. What with all the chaos, something is bound to happen.
City of Secrets
Matt's got dyslexia, so when he finds a hand-bound book in an antique shop he's not surprised he can't read it. But he buys it anyways -- he doesn't know why. After falling asleep he finds himself in Padavia, the Talian parallel of Padua. He's in a printer's press, and to his great surprise, he can read the books. Professor Constantin, another Stravagante, enlists Matt to help with the printing. But the di Chimici are stirring up trouble again -- trying to enforce new laws against the use of magic, which would include the forbidden books Constantin is secretly working on. And when they kidnap Matt, the di Chimici come dangerously close to discovering the strange world of the twenty-first century.
These descriptions absolutely do not do justice to the stories, but the books are so complicated it would take ages to write about everything. I didn't even mention the spies, the flying horse, the rescue of the Manoush.... The books are really good.
Some Girls Are
Courtney Summers
(White Pine Book)
This book was pretty good, but I think it's good that I read so fast, because if I'd spent any more than three days reading it I would have gotten bored. Regina, the main character, makes a few mistakes. They are most certainly not her fault, but she doesn't go to the police. And that is her fault, because she could have fixed all of her problems with one phone call. But instead she chooses to hide behind secrets as the bullying her former friends inflict on her increases.
As well, with no friends, Regina is forced to hang out with Michael Hayden. In ninth grade she and her friends made Michael's life a complete misery, but he is willing to give her another chance. Then she blows it. She so desperately wants to say sorry, but she's convinced she can't get the words out. So she works herself deeper and deeper into this tangle of her own mistakes, when she could have fixed everything so easily at the start. Like I said, if you don't read this book fast (Although, mind you, it does pull you right in and keep you reading -- it's really well written) you'll be pretty annoyed with Regina by the time you've finished.
Blade of Fire
By Stewart Hill
This book is the second in "The Icemark Chronicles" series. As the story starts, news arrives in the tiny country of the Icemark that General Scipio Bellorum is preparing to invade. Again. In desperation, Queen Thirrin sends her people away as refugees to the Southern Continent, sending her youngest son, Charlemagne, with them as Regent.
Charlemagne has wanted all his life to be a warrior, but his crippled leg prevents him from training. He's not particularly pleased that he's being sent overseas while his family fights. But under the guidance of Maggiore Totus, his tutor, Sharley begins a series of diplomatic missions to gather an army and return to the aid of his friends and family in the north, and to try and repel the massive armies of Bellorum and the Polypontian Empire once and for all.
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