Book Review: Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz

Title: Splendors and Glooms
Author: Laura Amy Schlitz
Published: Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2012
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 384
Total Page Count: 140,632
Text Number: 412
Read Because: personal enjoyment, e-book borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: For her twelfth birthday, Clara wants nothing more than for puppetmaster Grisini and his two child assistants to perform in her home. But Grisini's devilish nature leaves a mark on Clara, who mysteriously disappears. Splendors and Glooms is more than pure aesthetics, despite being a fantastic example of the gaslamp genre. What elevates it is the unromantic reality of grimy, class-divided Victorian England, and strong characterization. The aesthetics are a delight, but the children—whose position on the edge of adolescence both limits and empowers them—trapped within lovingly rendered London fog and bewitching puppetry are the book's true heart. Splendors and Glooms falls short of superb but it's solid—stylized but not shallow, enthusiastically gothic, and a pleasure to read; I recommend it.

Book Review: A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle

Title: A Wind in the Door (Time Quartet Book 2)
Author: Madeleine L'Engle
Published:: New York: Del, 1974 (1973)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 211
Total Page Count: 140,843
Text Number: 413
Read Because: personal enjoyment, from my personal library
Review: When Charles Wallace falls ill, Meg must go to school to save him—under the tutelage of an enigmatic Teacher, with a cherubim as a classmate, studying the source of all evil. A Wind in the Door may have been my favorite of the Time books when I was a child, but it's lost some of its magic for me now. The book's strangeness now reads as surreal rather than inspired—frankly, the fantasy aspects feel haphazard. There's something distasteful in the villain; a self-satisfied diatribe about These Dark Times overshadows an authentically frightening concept. But some of the book's beauty remains: the creative world of mitochondria and farandolae, the lovable Progo, and the Murray family which never fails to be compelling. A Wind in the Door isn't as classic a journey as A Winkle in Time and it shows, but despite my issues with it on this reread it's a journey worth taking because at its best, there's something here which is poignant and distinctly memorable. I recommend it with caveats.

Book Review: Magic's Price by Mercedes Lackey

Title: Magic's Price (The Last Herald Mage Book 3)
Author: Mercedes Lackey
Published:: New York: DAW, 1990
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 352
Total Page Count: 141,295
Text Number: 414
Read Because: personal enjoyment, e-book borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: In his 30s, Vanyel now works in the heart of Haven, advising the king and training new Heralds. One trainee, a remarkable young bard named Stephen, has his sights set on Vanyel—but so does the agent behind the war which has threatened Valdemar for all these years. In Magic's Price the plot finally comes full circle, but it's a disjointed, unevenly paced, and unfailingly predictable circle; what's somewhat more compelling is the conclusion to Vanyel's emotional journey. Vanyel has aged, but his emotional growth continues to feel delineated rather than convincing; any hope that the angst may have been scaled back is quashed by a gratuitous rape scene and melodramatic conclusion. The Last Herald Mage series ends as it began; like Magic's Pawn, Magic's Price is again memorable—and, again, for all the wrong reasons. The melodrama of these these books left a strong impression on me as an adolescent and I can see why, but upon reread I in no way recommend them.

Book Review: The Probable Future by Alice Hoffman

Title: The Probable Future
Author: Alice Hoffman
Published:: New York: Ballantine, 2003
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 322
Total Page Count: 141,617
Text Number: 415
Read Because: personal enjoyment, e-book borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Each of the Sparrow women has a gift—the power to detect a lie, to share someone else's dream, to know how someone will die. These gifts that have driven the family apart, but now that one threatens to land someone in jail three generations of Sparrow women reunite in their old family home. The Probable Future has a repetitive style and recurrent emotional themes; it's transparently written and at time almost artless, but in the end it works. This is precisely what I'd expect from Hoffman: a story about family and love, featuring multiple well-defined female protagonists but not straying far from the heteronormative mainstream, with a magical atmosphere tainted by excessive mundane detail, predictably plotted with overwritten but effective emotional arcs. It's unremarkable, and I don't recommend it, but it's a harmless distraction.