Persy -- The Passage by Justin Cronin

Are you ready for my round of excuses? Well, I was out of the country for almost a month, and then I got the chickenpox...

 

Science is cruising along, forever searching for the equivalent of the fountain of youth. Someone thinks they've found it... but is it what they think it is? Meanwhile, a young girl named Amy is abandoned to a group of nuns, and then kidnapped by the government. She becomes part of the experiments and while the world falls to ruins around her, she remains... Amy. And something a little bit more.

 

Almost a hundred years later, the story takes up with the small community of survivors who live inside a walled city with electric lights that will eventually shut off for good. And once that happens, no one will be able to stop the "smokes" from getting in and killing everyone.

 

The smokes are what happened when they tried spreading their fountain of youth. They got youth all right, but also a lot more. Superhuman abilities and a dose of insanity, and insatiable thirst and hunger for blood...

 

The little community's fragile peace is disturbed when Peter Jaxon runs into a Walker outside of the wall, a young girl who cannot speak with her mouth but somehow communicates exactly what she needs to say. No one knows where she came from, but it doesn't take Michael long to find the chip in her neck, put their years ago by the military. And it doesn't take him much longer to find a signal being sent out for her, asking for her return.

 

As the little community crumbles and the infected breach the walls, Peter leaves with a small crew to find the source of the signal, and, just maybe, other survivors.

 

This book took me over four months to read. That is a freaking long time. Geez. Admittedly, part of the problem was just crazy life stuff, but still. I mean, thinking about all the other things that have happened in the last four months, it's ridiculous to think that I've been reading the same book the whole freaking time.

 

Anyway. All that said, it makes it rather remarkable that I didn't just give up on the stupid thing. For some reason, I just kept on reading, kept re-checking it out at the library.

 

The beginning really drew me in, but the sudden drastic setting change really disoriented me, and for a long time I was really irritated about it. It took me a very long time to warm up to the new characters in the new setting. And once I had started to like them, Justin Cronin goes off and kills one of them and then has the other go through such a drastic character growth that he's not even the same character anymore. I'm still a little pissed off about that.

 

Two of the characters, Peter and Sara, really do have nice character growth. Peter was just "meh" in the beginning, but by the end he was awesome. Sara was "meeeeeeeh" and then she was "DON'T DIE, SARA." Theo and Maus, however, are just dull the whole way through.

 

The ending, OH THE ENDING. It was so sharp, so sudden, so unexpected, so... AAAUGH. It's amazing. I had to reread it five times to make sure I'd understood it correctly. Geez. Man. Wow. Golly what an ending. Major points for that one.

 

Justin Cronin has a very insensitive writing style. It's rather dry and there's not a whole lot of emotion in his characters (other than the occasional maniacal rage). It's not like I want an epic love story or anything, but something might be nice. Instead, you've got nothing. And then when he does put a bit of emotion in, it feels weird and...alien. Maybe he was just trying to sum up the world he created, but I don't really like it.

 

All in all it's... weird. The story and characters and writing is all just... weird. And long. Man. I would honestly only recommend this book to people who specifically like ridiculously long books. I don't think anyone else could get through it.

 

I also discovered that there's a sequel, and I'm not sure if I want to put my time and strength into that...

 

--Persy

 

You might like this if you: love ridiculously long novels; like horror vampire stories; like apocalyptic stories; don't much care about emotion (except for maniacal rage); or if you're dreaming about a mean fat woman and have an imaginary friend named Babcock.

Persy -- The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Life is acceptable.

 

Sure, things aren't great. Mary's father is gone, her mother sits by the gate staring into the Forest of Hands and Teeth waiting for some sign of her husband, and her childhood friend Harry is getting a bit too close. But the Unconsecrated are still safely beyond the gate, and the villagers are surviving. Mary still tells herself the stories of her mother, stories of a time before the Unconsecrated and a neverending ocean.

 

But then Mary's mother does see her husband -- and gets too close. She is infected in an instant, and condemned to death. By the time Mary's brother Jed gets back, it's too late to say goodbye. Their mother is shoved outside the gate to join the rest of the Unconsecrated.

 

Life is hard.

 

Now orphaned, Mary expects to be taken in by her brother Jed and his wife Beth, but Jed stonily tells her that she is to be taken in by the Sisterhood, the religious women who rule the village. Harry doesn't come through on his interrupted proposal, and, with nowhere else to go, Mary is forced into the Sisterhood, where her world starts to turn upside down.

 

First of all, Travis, Harry's brother, is injured and taken to the Cathedral to be looked after. Mary has always been in love with him, and she now finds it harder than ever to give up on him (he's engaged to Cass, Mary's best friend) when she sees him every night.

 

And, to top it all off, Mary discovers the impossible: a stranger has come from outside the fence. Does this mean that they are not the last survivors of humanity? That there is an end to the Unconsecrated and the Forest of Hands and Teeth? That her mother's stories weren't just nonsense, but true? Is there really an ocean out there, as she's always dreamed?

 

Life is unacceptable.

 

Mary begins to unwind the lies and mysteries surrounding the Sisterhood and the limping little village. But before she can get very far, the unthinkable happens: the gates are breached, and the Unconsecrated flood the village. Mary only barely survives along with Harry, Travis, Jed, Beth, Cass, a little boy named Jacob, and Mary's dog Argos. The group escape the village and start along one of the many fenced paths leading into the Forest. Mary is confident that there is something waiting for them, something better. Something free. The ocean.

 

I had mixed feelings about The Forest of Hands and Teeth. I've also been rather oblivious about it. When it first came out, I declared it uninteresting and so didn't put it very high on my to-read list. And then when I finally picked it up the other day, I realized it was about zombies. ILOVEZOMBIES. Buuuut then I saw some of the tags it had on various book websites: die-heroine-die, stupid-love-triangle... you get the picture. My excitement faded.

 

Ten pages in: dull dull dull dull Mary is such a stupid whinypants.

Ten - thirty pages in: hey, this is pretty good.

Thirty - one hundred pages in: ugh, Mary.

One hundred - end of book: AAAAAAAAAAAGH.

 

This is one of those books with terrible chars. They're all stupid in their own special way, and I can't help but wonder if they all had some actual mental problems. But then again, seeing as how they live in a post-apocalyptic zombie world, I'll cut them some slack. I doubt I'd have all my lightbulbs screwed in just right if I were in their situation.

 

But this is also one of those books that is just so tragic and well-written and realistic that it somehow ends up beautiful in my head. I closed the book with a sense of awe and shock, completely exhausted from the trip. Talk about a climax done zombie-style. I even sort of ended up liking Mary towards the end. She's still not exactly smart, but I can see her being awesome in a kind of Resident Evil-one-woman-against-the-zombie-horde way.

 

This review reminding you of another book? Life As We Knew It, for example? Yeah, the books are ridiculously similar. They both follow the basic plot of an apocalypse with a character who is incredibly dull and yet resourceful. None of the main chars are all that interesting (though "Forest" had the advantage of a dog; I'll put you out of your misery and give you a small spoiler: Argos survives the entire book), but the writing is spectacular, and for the last half of the book, it's impossible to stop reading. Both books are the first in a series, and both sequels are about different characters. Both main characters are female with names beginning with M. If Carrie Ryan and Susan Beth Pfeffer aren't already friends, they should definitely get together and see what other tragedies they can come up with. Can you imagine what would happen if they wrote a book together?

 

"Forest" definitely isn't for everyone. I don't expect it to become the next great classic or anything, but I still encourage you to give it a try, as long as you aren't too incensed by stupid main chars or too sensitive to mental and physical pain. Yikesies.

 

You might like this if you: like Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer; like apocalypse/futuristic stories; love zombies and therefore must read/see/listen to anything related to zombies; enjoy amazing, unique writing styles (if you can call it unique... let's just say Pfeffer and Ryan are the only two with it); or if you feel like your life is not enough and that there's something else waiting for you beyond a deadly forest. Perhaps this book can give you examples of the does and don'ts (DO practice archery. DON'T be indecisive about your one true love).

Persy -- Interview With The Vampire

I only just got around to reading the great gothic vampire classic, Interview With The Vampire by the renowned Anne Rice. I know, for someone who says she likes real vampires, you'd think I'd have gotten to Anne Rice earlier, but oh well. I finally read it.

One night in modern America (?), Louis the vampire meets with a young reporter to tell his life story, which is pretty long and action-packed. It starts centuries ago, when Louis first came to America from France and was turned into a vampire by Lestat. And... well, Louis's story spans across centuries, mostly involving himself and Lestat along with a few other vampires that come and go, namely Claudia and Armand. Throughout it all, you get glimpses of the future during scenes when Louis, mysteriously alone, interacts with his human interviewer.

I'm going to be entirely honest here. I didn't like it.

I'm sorry, but it was just... geez. Anne Rice's writing is gorgeous, but... I hated all the characters. From the beginning, I really wanted Louis to just kill Lestat and then throw himself into the sunlight so they'd all be put out of their dreadful misery. That's pretty much the basis of the entire book: misery. Immortal misery. Misery spanning centuries and centuries. Misery in America, misery in Europe. Misery with one person, misery with a whole group of people.

MIIIISEEEEEERY!!!!!

Basically, Louis's a sap and Lestat is a jerk. Claudia's insane, but that's not her fault, so mostly I just feel sorry for her. Armand's actually all right, but he's not in much and is also in a miserable situation... BECAUSE OF LOUIS AND LESTAT.

So basically, I'm right back at the beginning. Lestat and Louis should both just die.

I am going to read some later novels by Anne Rice, because her writing is pretty good, but Interview With The Vampire was just a huge disappointment.

--Persy

You might like this if you: like gothic vampiric stuff; don't read books looking for cool characters; just want to say you've read it; or if you find yourself in an incredible state of misery and for some reason want to read about other people in misery.

Wednesday Scrolls - Literary Heroines Who Don't Suck, Classic & Historical Fiction Edition

Time to continue the ongoing Literary Heroines Who Don't Suck Saga! We've already covered fantasy and urban fantasy, and today we'll be taking a look at both classic and historical fiction. I combined the two genres because there just weren't enough to warrant a list for each. Even combined, there's only 8, not even a full 10. I don't read a lot of historical fiction, and there aren't really a lot of heroines in classic novels. What's really amazing though, is that they're all almsot equal in their awesomeness. Here's a list of the 8 I've encounted in my travels:

#8. Wilhelmina "Mina" Harker from Dracula by Bram Stoker. Classic Horror. Listen, y'all (and I don't use that term lightly), Dracula is not boring, it is not tedious, and it is not filled with obscene pages of violence and dirt. It's a work of genius. and Mina Harker is actually very cool. She's certainly not the best character in the book, but that hardly makes her boring. She's comfortable in her situation as a woman, doesn't run off to kill the vampires behind Van Helsing's back, and yet is still brave. She is dignified. And the book itself? ^^ Work of genius.

#7. Kit Tyler from The Witch Of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. Classic Fiction. "Despite winning the Newberry Award..." Yeah, I did just quote myself. But let's face it, Newberry Award winners are usually dull and boring, but "Blackbird Pond" is an exception to the rule. Kit is pretty awesome, seen as a foreign witch by her new neighbors and relatives. But she ends up making a school (by accident) for the young children, teaching them to read and write. Go Kit! And the book itself? Excellent.

#6. Rosalind Hawkins from The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey. Historical Fiction/Fantasy. As I've said before, best Beauty and the Beast retelling. Ever. Rosalind, like Mina, is perfectly content being a woman and wearing corsets and skirts, and doesn't even think about it. Instead, she just curls up in her chair, forgetting all about her skirts, to read her books in comfort. She's and educated woman, irritated that men don't always accept her knowledge, but she doesn't jump up on a soapbox and start shouting at everyone. Plus, she's just kind of cute. And the book itself? ^^Best B&B retelling. Ever.

#5. Emily Trefusis from Murder At Hazelmoor (AKA The Sittaford Mystery) by Agatha Christie. Classic Mystery. Christie doesn't always do it for me, but Emily is very cool. If you want something done, do it yourself. That's what she decides when her fiancé (a silly little man, but for some reason she can't figure out, she loves him anyway) is charged with murder. So she heads down to solve the mystery herself, weedling her way into the heart of the little village. She's a brilliantly created heroine. And the book itself? Ending a bit disappointing, but overall quite good.

#4. Cat Royal from the Cat Royal series by Julia Golding. Historical Fiction. Cat's actually a very average young adult historical heroine: spunky, adventurous, and witty. She's good at getting into tight situations, and she's good at getting out of them. Perhaps it's Golding's writing that distinguishes Cat from all the others. And the book itself (The Diamond of Drury Lane)? So good.

#3. Marguerite St. Just from The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy. Classic Adventure/Superhero. *squees* Best book EVER. While Marguerite isn't the best part of it, she plays her part(s) superbly. You want a double agent? Check her out. And the book itself? OMGZ SO AWESOME.

#2. Mary "Jacky" Faber from the Bloody Jack/Jacky Faber series by L.A. Meyer. Historical Adventure. Girl dresses as boy to get into some sort of all-boy situation. Cliché. But when it's actually done well, it's amazing. Jacky doesn't start dressing as a boy because she particularly wants to, it just kind of happens and she's got nowhere else to go but the sea, and they don't take girls anyway. Jacky is full of adventure and absolute hilarity. And the book itself (Bloody Jack)? Go read ALL THE BOOKS IN THE SERIES!

#1. Mara from Mara, Daughter Of The Nile by Eloise Jarvis McGraw. Classic/Historical Espionage. Okay, remember how I said Marguerite St. Just is the best example of a double agent? Mara would actually give her a serious run for her money. I would love to see these two in battle. Mara is roped into double agent-dom, but she does it so well and she's so amazing. And the book itself? Dude, READ IT ALREADY.

And there you have it. This weekend I'll be doing a review, and the following Wednesday we'll have the last installment of the Literary Heroines Who Don't Suck Saga! Unless we have an ultimate showdown, of course...

--Persy

Persy -- Thirteen Days To Midnight by Patrick Carman

Most of us know Patrick Carman for his Land Of Elyon (fantasy world, talking animals, awesome library) series, or maybe his Atherton trilogy (adventure, awesome illustrations, cool world), but the last thing I expected from him was a young adult novel about superpowers.

Though I don't know if you'd call Thirteen Days To Midnight a superhero novel. No one makes themselves a costume and runs off to fight the forces of evil or anything. But Jacob Fielding definitely has a power, and Ophelia "Oh" James and Milo Coffin think it's a good idea to use it (it's not).

Jacob Fielding was the foster kid of a Catholic priest. That is, until said priest died in a car accident. Seconds before the car crash, he turned to Jacob and said, "You are indestructable." That was when everything started to change.

And everything did change when Jacob finally went back to the (Catholic) school a month after the accident, and met the new girl Oh James. Love at first sight. Sigh.

Through a series of unfortunate events (heh), Oh and Milo (Jacob's best friend), discover that Jacob is now, literally, indestructable, and he has the power to transfer his indestructability to anyone just by saying or thinking, "You are indestructable." Oh comes up with the idea that using this transferable power, they can save people's lives.

But it soon becomes clear that things are getting out of control, and Jacob realizes that he should've done more research before experimenting with his gift. As Oh herself starts to crash, Jacob and Milo are going to have to decide how far they're willing to go to save her and stop what they started.

As regular MLU readers know, Ophelia "Oh" James made number one on my "Most Hated Literary Characters" list a few weeks back *runs off to murder her again*. Er, yeah, I don't like her much. But I kind of understand why she is the way she is, y'know? The book wouldn't quite have worked if she hadn't been so dang...argh. "Irritating" sounds too good for her, but "evil" isn't right either. You'll just have to read it and think of your own adjective.

Despite the presence of Oh, this book is amazing. Patrick Carman's writing is simply phenemonal, and all the dialogue about Hell and faith and how it incorporates into the story is brilliant. For once, the main character is made of awesome (go Jacob!), and his best friend is pretty interesting too (go Milo!). Plus, Harry Houdini. He's been a favorite of mine ever since I did a research paper on him back in sixth grade.

It's kind of hard to write a proper review of Thirteen Days To Midnight without giving away twists in the plot, and those twists are so important to the way the book is laid out. In the beginning, you have absolutely no idea what is going on, and even when you're halfway through the book, you're still finding things out that Jacob (the point of view) has been keeping a secret. And it works! It's not like, "Oh, by the way, such and such told me such and such, so I've got the answer", it's the slow unveiling of Jacob's deep secrets and thoughts. It's amazing.

All that said, I won't be able to read this book again for a very long time, if ever. It was exhausting. Plus it took all my self-control not to hurl the book across the wall because of dang beautiful Ophelia "Oh" James. But she's really the only problem with the book, so I'd definitely recommend it to everyone, though if you scare easily, you might want to stay away. The ending is...intense.

...Really intense.

--Persy

Persy -- Wednesday Scrolls -- Hate List

Sometimes, there are characters that you just hate. I'm not talking about the evil villains, or the annoying main character, or the weird girl character that exists for no reason (though a few of those are just terrible). I'm talking about those characters, be they good, bad, male, or female, that you just hate and want to die. Don't tell me you've never come across a few of those.

Now I'm not saying the writer did a bad job of creating these characters. Sometimes, you're supposed to hate them, so the author did a brilliant writing job. Go writer.

Other times, they do it accidentally.

So I've composed a list of twelve of the characters I just cannot stand just for your enlightenment, and the books that contain them. We'll work our way up to the worst of the worst.

#12. Alan Ryves from The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan.

You probably know my opinion on this book already, since I did a review (http://persyandarty.blogspot.com/2011/05/persy-demons-lexicon-by-sarah-rees.html) of it back in May. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this book, but most of the hate finally settled on this character. He's the brother of the MC, Nick, and seems the epitome of niceness. Makes you want to punch him. Especially at the end. Ugh.

#11. Sabine Campbell from My Soul To Steal by Rachel Vincent, fourth book in the Soul Screamers series.

This character you're probably supposed to hate, so I don't really blame her. But I still can't stand her. She's the ex-girlfriend of the MC's boyfriend who just pops up out of nowhere and starts being a total *cough*witch*cough*. I do not recommend reading this far into the series unless the fifth one ends up being a total gem and you have to connect the dots.

#10. Nash Hudson from My Soul To Steal by Rachel Vincent, fourth book in the Soul Screamers series.

This is said boyfriend, who starts being a total idiot at the end of the third book, and finally just gets there in the fourth. I seriously want to just punch him in the stomach.

#9. Homburg Molly from Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor.

She has almost no reason to exist, except for being the cause of all the trouble and the link between Hatter Madigan (awesome) and Weaver (not so awesome). Just plain annoying.

#8. St. John Rivers from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I can't stand this guy. He's so...gaaah. *shivers* Creepy? Irksome? Awkward?

#7. Muriel Hardwicke from A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson.

This character is the bad guy of the book, so I actually feel rather good about hating her guts (and I always award Eva Ibbotson points for this character). She's just evil. Check out the full review (http://persyandarty.blogspot.com/2011/01/persy-countess-below-stairs-by-eva.html) I did way back in January.

#6. Ridley Duchannes from Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

I also don't feel bad about hating this character either, since she's pretty much an evil witch (and I mean that literally). She slinks around with her evil powers and smirks and NO ONE EVER DOES ANYTHING! That's REALLY what I hate, is that nobody ever just caved her face in. You can read the full review of Beautiful Creatures here (http://persyandarty.blogspot.com/2011/03/persy-beautiful-creatures-by-kami.html)

#5. Ever Bloom from Evermore by Alyson Noel.

Oh my stars, this book sucks. Lots of it is because of the MC, Ever. Ugh. That's all there is to say.

#4. Lilith Llewelyn from Rampant by Diana Peterfreund.

Lilith actually isn't in the book much, but she's frickin' annoying even when she's not. She's the evil mother of the MC (though she's not actually evil which is partly why I hate her so much). I did a full review of this book a loong time ago (http://persyandarty.blogspot.com/2010/05/persy-rampant-by-diana-peterfreund.html) if you want to check it out.

#3. Esmerelda from The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo.

Airhead. And everyone loves her so much. Sure, maybe she can dance and maybe she's drop dead gorgeous, but there ain't nothin' goin' on behind those purty eyes.

#2. Melissa from Midnighters by Scott Westerfeld.

Now I have to tread carefully here, because I don't entirely remember what this character's name was. I could've sworn she was Tara, but I might've been getting her confused with a different mind-reading character. But I did my best to pinpoint what her name actually is, and I'm pretty sure it's Melissa. And I didn't hate her guts until the second or third book (again, I can't remember), when she just became awful. I stopped reading almost immediately and have never gone back and started again, though I'm considering it. Don't know if I can face her again, though...

#1. Ophelia "Oh" James from Thirteen Days To Midnight by Patrick Carman.

And this is her. The queen of awful chars. The mother of all evil. The one person I might kill without regretting it later. She's one of the three MCs, and the girlfriend of the main MC, Jacob. She's reckless, bossy, sly, and a know-it-all tough girl. At the end, you find that there's a good reason she's that way, but that doesn't make her any less annoying. I hated her from the beginning, and I hated her to the very end.

So there you go, a list of the twelve chars I can. not. stand. Woe to the characters that add on to this list in the future.

What about you? What characters do you want to stab repeatedly with a fork and then throw over the edge of a cliff into shark-infested waters?

--Persy

Arty -- Solitary by Travis Thrasher

Chris Buckley's family has just gone through a painful divorce. Now, he and his mother move to her old hometown of Solitary, North Carolina. As it turns out, Solitary is as creepy as its name suggests - packed with more dark secrets and mysteries as a sixteen-year-old should be able to handle.

But what really gets Chris's attention is Jocelyn Evans - the most beautiful girl in his school. She also happens to be the most troubled girl in his school. Of course, Chris falls head over heels for her. Jocelyn resists at every turn - still, they can't help being drawn together. But when Chris tries to uncover the darkness in Jocelyn's life - when he tries to help her - he only ends up deeper than ever in Solitary's tangled mass of twisted secrets.

So this is what it feels like to read a cliché done beautifully, horribly right.

Because I'm a character person, I have to mention the characters first. Chris was adorable. At once naive and mature, the kind of guy who doesn't like to be told what to do but will do anything for someone he loves, he came off perfectly. Not perfect, but perfectly. Jocelyn was amazing too - no annoying, empty-headed heroines here. I could totally see why Chris fell in love with her.

That's another thing - this was basically a love story, put in a suspense/horror novel sheath. But it wasn't shallow, saccharine romance. It was actually about Chris and Jocelyn becoming friends, building trust, and taking care of each other. Very, very effective.

As were the actual suspense and horror sections. Thrasher writes in first-person present-tense, and I've rarely seen someone handle it better. It's like you're stationed in Chris's head, watching everything with his eyes. You know how he ticks. You know what he'll do. And all the while you're screaming Don't do it, Chris!!

The mental-journal approach sometimes gets a little obvious - Thrasher has a love for one-sentence paragraphs.

It gets annoying.

Sometimes it's cool.

But sometimes, not so much.

(Sorry.)

Thrasher also has a tendency to put in small plotlines and then abandon them completely for chapters at a time. You get a sense that he's just tossing them into the mix for the fun of it. I hope they'll make a difference in the rest of The Solitary Tales. Time will tell.

While not as disturbing as Unwind, perhaps, Solitary can get seriously creepy. And emotional. And if you don't gasp and reread the climax and maybe shed a few tears, you have no soul. So, definitely, get the book. And the next, called Gravestone (can it get better than that?), which comes out June 11.

Arty -- The Time Travelers by Linda Buckley-Archer AND Wednesday Scrolls

Yes, I'm hideously late, and I'm hideously embarrassed. But I've been busy.

Therefore, I am going to undertake a blend of both review and Wednesday Scrolls, both with the same subgenre of novel - Time Travel.

REVIEW:

Gideon Seymour, thief and gentleman, hides from the villainous Tar Man. — Suddenly the sky peels away like fabric and from the gaping hole fall two curious-looking children. Peter Schock and Kate Dyer have fallen straight from the twenty-first century, thanks to an experiment with an antigravity machine. Before Gideon and the children have a chance to gather their wits, the Tar Man takes off with the machine -- and Peter and Kate's only chance of getting home. Soon Gideon, Peter, and Kate are swept into a journey through eighteenth-century London and form a bond that, they hope, will stand strong in the face of unfathomable treachery.

That's all you need to know. For once, the back of a book perfectly sums up the action inside. Time traveling machine, two kids, accident, BOOM, eighteenth century.

Kate and Peter are the main characters, but how can you not love a guy whos

e title is 'Thief and Gentleman'? Gideon was truly the best character, that young-man-with-a-horrible-past-that-he's-trying-to-outrun-while-turning-over-a-new-leaf stereotype that only really bad authors can foul up. But the supporting characters were wonderful too, and the villain - The Tar Man - actually had a painful past. I found myself wincing when his backstory came around.

There are caveats. Buckley-Archer has a nasty habit of switching between point of views, usually Peter's and Kate's (though this usually works just as well as it did with, say, authors in the '40s and '50s because of Buckley-Archer's style). The ending wasn't quite as exciting as I had hoped. And I found the American woman's use of the word 'telly' for television hilarious. But those are minor in comparison to the rest of the amazing book. I squeal every time I think about it. Do yourself a favor, and read the book. (It's the first in The Gideon Trilogy; the second is called The Time Thief, and the third The Time Quake.)

WEDNESDAY'S SCROLLS

In the seemingly hit-and-miss realm of Time Travel literature, The Time Travelers is truly

amazing. Here are a couple of others that pull it off brilliantly.

I reviewed Robert Liparulo's Comes A Horseman a few months back. His adult novels are good, but his only YA series, Dreamhouse Kings, is really his magnum opus, in my humble opinion. In it, the King family - Ed and G, the parents, and kids Alexander, David, and Victoria - move to a small town in California, to an old fixer-upper house that gives Xander and David the creeps. Naturally, it gets worse than that - the house is actually a gigantic portal, with different doors leading to different periods in time. When Mrs. King is snatched into the time portals by an ancient enemy, the rest of the family has to pull together to figure out the rules of the Dreamhouse if they want to get their mother back.

Okay, okay, so it's the sixth book in a series. But it's an awesome book in an awesome series, so I think it deserves a mention.

In this book, Artemis's mother, Angeline, becomes ill with an unknown disease - a disease that turns out to be Spelltropy, usually a disease that only magical creatures can get. Only antidote? The brain fluid of the silky sifaka limur. Only problem? Artemis killed the last remaining lemur when he was ten. Only solution? Go back in time and prevent Artemis's younger self from killing the lemur. (If you can't guess from picturing Fourteen-Year-Old Artemis and Ten-Year-Old Artemis in a face-off, it's hilarious.)

So that's my Big Three of Time Travel. Do you have any other good T.T. books? If so, comment - I'd love to check them out!