Book Reviews: Everworld 7-12 by Katherine Applegate

( Series bulletpoints: gods, Senna, vs. Animorphs. )

( Gateway to the Gods (Everworld Book 7) )

( Brave the Betrayal (Everworld Book 8) )

( Inside the Illusion (Everworld Book 9) )

( Understand the Unknown (Everworld Book 10) )

Title: Mystify the Magician (Everworld Book 11)
Author: Katherine Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 2001
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 200
Total Page Count: 371,815
Text Number: 1366
Read Because: fan of the author, hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: The Old Worlders finally face off against Senna. After hating the previous book, I'm pleasantly surprised that I ate this one up. There's no narrative cul-de-sacs here; it's all plot all the time, doing clever things with the parallel-world setup, carrying through on character arcs (I'll never like Christopher, but he's a good PoV for this book) and the ongoing theme of Everworld eclipsing their original/"real" lives. It retains the flaws endemic to the series, primarily the historical reductivism, but also mediocre writing (ex. the key to defeating Senna is obvious to any reader who's the least trope-aware; neo-Nazis as easily-manipulated pawns of the antagonist is painfully on the nose—but effective, don't get me wrong). But, since I don't know if the series will end well, and since it's been relatively underwhelming up to this point, I'm gratified to have at least one strong book near the end to reward my persistence.


Title: Entertain the End (Everworld Book 12)
Author: Katherine Applegate
Published: Scholastic, 2001
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 155
Total Page Count: 371,970
Text Number: 1367
Read Because: reading the series
Review: The cast struggle to unite the gods against the Sennites and Ka Anor, but with the gateway gone there's a real chance they'll disappear from one of the two worlds. Practically speaking, this is an adequate ramp up to a finale; but we never see that finale, and are given a lingering afterword that explains only where the cast ends up. —And that's no small thing, but the reveal feels unsubstantiated (and for April, PoV for this book, even unwarranted).

But I'm not torn up about a sudden end to the series. Everworld shares some DNA with Animorphs, but is nowhere as successful; it's a rocky read and ultimately not worth recommending. But having come this far, the series provides a fantastic penultimate book that offers much of the closure an ending needs, and a final book then gracefully lets the series die—lingering in the imagination but not forcing the reader through another handful of mediocre books. I call that a win.

Book Reviews: Rebecca, du Maurier; Golem, Wisniewski; Burnt Offerings, Marasco

Title: Rebecca
Author: Daphne du Maurier
Published: 1938
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 420
Total Page Count: 364,485
Text Number: 1328
Read Because: reread; ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library but I own it in paperback
Review: This is as much a dream as Manderley: beautiful, unbelievable, privileged, stumbled upon, an exuberance of flowers which growing cloying, claustrophobic, finally nightmarish as identities are mirrored and overshadowed, as actions are compelled. I love warm-weather gothic for just that vibe, and this is so gothic—the laborious slow burn of the first half, the intense thriller of the second half, the blatant and utterly effective gimmick of the unnamed protagonist and the titular Rebecca. It's manipulative, seductive, compellingly characterized; Mrs. Danvers holds a particularly special place in my heart. This has been a favorite since I was in high school and rereads never disappoint.

( Somehow I assumed that I'd never reviewed this before, which is doubly untrue... )

Title: Golem
Author: David Wisniewski
Published: Clarion Books, 1996
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 30
Total Page Count: 369,090
Text Number: 1354
Read Because: mentioned n this discussion of scary Jewish children's books, but I finally picked it up because it came up in a Jacob Geller video; hardback borrowed from the Wilsonville Public Library
Review: It's difficult to imagine reading this in a group setting or to a child because the intricate papercuts demand to be poured over by one's own—they're claustrophobically dense and brutally crisp; the white core at the cut edges of intense red, orange, and brown paper almost feels like an aggressive sharpening filter. It defines the tone: things with are vast, sacred, awesome, unknowable, and mournful seen with too much clarity. What an experience! I'm always on the lookout for Jewish picture books(/Jewish picture book authors) and scary picture books, and this is a goldmine of both.


Title: Burnt Offerings
Author: Robert Marasco
Published: Valancourt Books, 2015 (1973)
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 255
Total Page Count: 371,065
Text Number: 1363
Read Because: numerous mentions by Gothic Charm School, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Like many early and/or formative examples of a genre, this feels cliché in retrospect: a young urban family escapes the crowded city for a vast, decrepit summer home; the home consumes its occupants to sustain itself and revive its wealth and beauty, which is charmingly literal and elicits some great imagery, especially in the hum behind the occupied bedroom door and in the tedious but occasionally very effective level of material detail.

It doesn't compare to haunted houses I love more. The tension between the fear of being and the drive to be consumed by the home hinges on materialism but offers limited examination of class anxiety; and while it's natural that a haunted house must compel its inhabitants, there's just not enough autonomy for me to buy the ultimate surrenders. So thematically it's as trite as the premise: all the familiar components are there, but the examination isn't particularly diverse or robust. Nonetheless this grew on me as it went on; not a must-read for the genre, not a particular favorite, but satisfyingly adequate with some fun touches.