Galax-Arena by Gillian Rubinstein

Galax-Arena is: Hunger Games marries Cirque Du Soliel and they have a baby. That baby grows up and meets Enders Game and they have a baby. Except the grandbaby was published way back in 1993! Feels really fresh--it fits in so nicely with all of the Hunger Games spin offs that it makes me wonder if Suzanne Collins was inspired by it!

Joella and her brother Peter and her sister Liane are kidnapped and shipped across the universe to live as acrobatic performers for the Vexa, an alien race who get their kicks watching them and the other child performers defy death on the trapeze over and over...except when death isn't defied at all. That's what the Vexa live for.

All of them want to escape, but there's no where to escape to. The atmosphere is poisonous to humans, and Hythe, the Vexa's hired hand, is always there, ready to bend their hearts by praise or their knees by punishment. Throw in a psychic power, some deep observations about the power of information, and a serious twist, and you've got it. If there wasn't a real adult with a job (my husband!) living in our house, I would have stayed up last night and finished it.

Content-wise, there is some language, including the "B-word," the S-word, and at least one GD. There isn't any sexuality. The kids are involved in some serious power struggles, but it's not as violent throughout as Ender's Game, though there are several deaths and one mob-attack murder. It's not a light read, in other words, but in the thematic context (that people lose something more valuable than life itself when they only think about their own survival,) I didn't have a problem with it. I haven't decided yet if I will let my 11 yo son read it. Yeah, I think I will.

One more thing worth noting is that the performers didn't have a language in common, so they speak a pidgin language, similiar to "Clockwork Orange," but there's a glossary in the front and I enjoyed that aspect. I did have to say a few words outloud to figure out what was meant. Just thought it worth mentioning...

Anybody else read this? It seems to have gotten good reviews, won some big awards in Australia (where the author lives), but none of my goodreads friends have read it. I'm shocked, honestly. All you dystopian sci-fi people will love it!

Happy reading!

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Glutton for Punishment?

More than I can chew and 'The Mark' by M.R. Bunderson

I think I've over-reached. My goals this week keep getting loftier.

1. Finish hard copy line edits on ENTIRE manuscript- I'm about half way done.

2. Rewrite query and prepare to send it to editor for comments on ways to improve it by next week.

3. Write five three crits (two done!)

"Where's the fire?" you ask.

I have my first pitch with an agent on May 15th at the Atlanta Writer's Conference! I hope to have my first 50 pages polished to a high sheen, my outline, my query, and be able to quickly share what my book is about. I will be posting once a week until these goals are met, on Tuesdays.

I could have gotten through another 50 pages of line edits yesterday, but I picked up a copy of 'The Mark' by M.R. Bunderson from my local LDS bookstore and read all afternoon. It was a very intriguing YA mystery/light romance/fantasy and is available on Amazon. I paid for this book out of pocket and have no relationship with the author. I just liked it.

Isn't this a great cover? It matches the book perfectly.

Seventeen year old Tori discovers that a small mole isn't really a mole- it's a symbol, perhaps from an unknown language. A few other people that enter her life- seemingly by chance- also have the same mark and even stranger, Tori can sense their emotions with her touch. From the first time they meet, Tori and Eric share an especially deep connection. Their relationship is difficult because Eric's touch threatens to overwhelm her emotions, making it dangerous to even hold hands. As Tori and her new friends discover their similarities, they begin to wonder if they really belong in this world and what it will cost them to uncover the secrets of their origins.

It is the closest I've come to a comparable novel to my book, although my book has a much sharper edge. Don't laugh, those who've read my stuff. I know I don't write 'dark' fantasy, but I do use some medium bad words (like that really hot place you don't want to end up in and the action word for getting sent there) and my characters kiss (french, not peck!), and some people die 'on-screen'.

Bunderson's MC has an ability to read the emotions of the few people who are from the same mythical land she's been stolen from, and the author had to deal with some of the same things I do. It was very interesting to read how she handles the same issues with emotional powers- that you still can misunderstand what people mean, that motivations are different than emotions, etc. This was not a religious book, simply a clean book, and I really enjoyed it. Sometimes I've read specialized audience books and don't get the impression that the writing is quite there, but 'The Mark' was well done. I'm glad I bought it, but no more reading until after May 15th! (Except for 'Writing the Breakout Novel' by Donald Maass. I had to triple check the spelling of his name. Is it just me?)

Have a great week!
Glutton for Punishment?

The Last Apprentice

The Last Apprentice Series by Joseph Delaney

I haven't read the whole series- just the first four books-which right there tells you that these are a great read. I might read one book in an okay series, but not two, and certainly not four.

Tom Ward is the seventh son of a seventh son with some odd talents like seeing the dead. His parents have run out of money to pay for a more "mainstream" apprenticeship, so Tom is sent to the Spook to learn the art of fighting witches, warlocks, and other evil creatures that make life hard for folks in the County. It is lonely work, and some of it is scary, but Tom is a natural. He soon meets a girl in pointy shoes (the exact kind of girl in the exact kind of shoes that the Spook warned him to stay away from!) and struggles with if she is a benign witch or a malevolent one. Tom can't trust her...but there's something about her that makes him want to.

The Last Apprentice has the most innocent 'romance' I've seen in a recent series- it's very believable and doesn't push kids into adult situations. There's no mention of kissing until Alice's cousin tries to entrall Tom in a later book.

It reads a little darker than early Harry Potter, but is on par with the later ones- there are boggarts and witches, spirits and demons, and Tom spends a lot of time digging pits and lining them with his iron and salt mixture to trap them.

There's an interesting theme about the role of a Spook versus the role of a priest. In the beginning books, Tom seems to think that the priests just pray and aren't active enough in their fight against evil, but his tone changes as he becomes more experienced. I don't know how that will turn out, but the Spook respects his brother the priest, though the reverse is not true. 

Tom does make a lot of poor decisions, but some young men do *wink*, so it's not unbelievable. I'm not prone to nightmares, and didn't find the images particularily scary, but a lot of other reviewers have. I will wait until my son is at least 12 to introduce him to Tom Ward, but I'm sure they'll be good friends!  
Glutton for Punishment?