Book Reviews

Nation is Terry Pratchett's "latest" YA novel though it doesn't take place in Discworld or any of his other worlds. Nation is set on a world more-or-less parallel to ours in something like the late 1800s. Two story lines about disasters - a tsunami in one line and a flu epidemic in another, bring two vastly different adolescents together on a deserted island. The islander boy and proper British girl have little in common except trying to survive, and then to build a nation out of what the sea washes up on the shore. This is very different from Pterry's other works (more like the Bromiliad Triology than anything else), though the footnotes he is famous for are sprinkled throughout the book.

Pratchett fans have been wondering if his early-onset-Alzheimer's has effected his writing. Judging by this book, it most certainly has not. This is one of the best books he has written lately - certainly the best for YA - and, though more could be written about this world, it is a stand-alone. It is delightful that Pratchett can write so wonderfully without all the beloved underpinnings and folklore of the Discworld. (Speaking of folklore, I've just started Folklore of the Discworld , co-written by Pratchett and Jacqueline Simpson. No opinion yet.) The book is out now in the UK and releases in the US in a couple of days.

Flora's Dare is the sequel to Flora Segunda , by Ysabeau Wilce. Tom and I loved the first Flora, and love the second just as much. You really need to read these in order, since the second book explains various of the questions Segunda left up in the air. Just wait till you meet Tiny Doom!

Chalice is what I've just finished reading this afternoon. It is by Newberry Medal winner Robin McKinley (The Hero and the Crown ).  I re-read Hero and the Crown and its sequel at least once a year, but haven't been grabbed by any of her other books - they were OK but not moving. Chalice changes that. It is grand! It invents its own fantasy mythology, which is refreshing, about a young woman who inherits the position of tying the land to the rulers by means of what she mixes in cup for the rituals that bind wordds to deeds to land. Also lots about bees and a word that has something to do with milk that I'm trying to track down. Anyone know what hilliehoolie might be? After I finish the blog I've go to drag down the OED and try to find it. Anyhow, a splendid book that is too short, but I hope for a sequel.

Magic Thief by Sarah Prineas is a more typical wizard-and-his-humble-apprentice-in-somewhere-like-London. But it is well illustrated and well written and its characters bump the boundaries of their stereotypes. It is for a younger audience than the others, but I enjoyed it.