Book Reviews: Kit's Wilderness, Almond; Spare and Found Parts, Griffin; Widdershins, Onions

Title: Kit's Wilderness
Author: David Almond
Published: Random House Children's Books, 2001 (1999)
Rating: 4.5 of 5
Page Count: 240
Total Page Count: 499,800
Text Number: 1781
Read Because: reviewed by rachelmanija; ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: 4.5 stars, rounded up. After his grandmother dies, Kit and his family move in with his grandfather in a small ex-mining town. Kit, thirteen, who shares a name with the victim of a mass mining accident, plays a game of Death. This is a story of intergenerational trauma: the imprint that mining deaths left on a community which has since radically changed; the loss of a family member, and stories passed between generations; Kit's antagonistic friendship with Askew, a schoolmate who's a victim of child abuse. Almond's voice is sparse, but his text is dense; the summary barely touches everything going on here. Characters double and foil each other; inset narratives and ghosts add a surreal magical realist element balanced by incredibly realistic dialog. The relationship between Kit and Askew is captivating, a dynamic, intense, queer bond between boys from different backgrounds, united by a shared vision from opposite ends of the spectrum: "You and me, we're just the same."

It's not a flawless book. The coda runs overlong and puts too neat an end to beautifully complex themes; it turns out that intergenerational trauma is surprisingly easy to heal! who knew; how convenient. But many middle grade books about capital-d Death feel like award-bait; this is affecting but it's also weird and nuanced and has a Alan Garner-like dreamy quality. I loved it.


Title: Spare and Found Parts
Author: Sarah Maria Griffin
Published: Greenwillow Books, 2016
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 415
Total Page Count: 501,220
Text Number: 1785
Read Because: enjoyed the author's Other Words for Smoke, also reviewed by Rosamund
Review: DNF at 25%, not for any particular reason except that I'm not big on YA, and YA kept getting in the way of the parts I found interesting, over-broadcasting our protagonist's teenage social angst and the dystopic worldbuilding when I wanted to spend time with the speculative plot. If I know I'm not going to like it, well, then....


Title: Widdershins
Author: Oliver Onions
Published: 1911
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 160
Total Page Count: 502,015
Text Number: 1787
Read Because: many years ago I saw a first edition of this in Powell's rare book room & went, great title, great author name; and wrote it down and looked it up, and was delighted to see it was actually good; and put it on my TBR until, finally, it got read for the spooky season, to which it's a superb fit. Anyway, this is free via Gutenberg
Review: A collection of short stories, the longest of which, the novella "The Beckoning Fair One," is the most famous and most successful: after moving into new lodgings, the narrator finds himself courting the jealous spirit who inhabits it; it has that perfect, seductive claustrophobia of a haunted house, pushing away the outside world, drawing the protagonist into an obsession which is toxic but irresistible. The other stories are shorter and more gimmicky, not in a negative way; it reminds me, weirdly, of the Twilight Zone, a sort of "wouldn't it be fucked up if that happened" vibe - to live a life in an instant, to be pursued by one's shadow-self, to sacrifice sanity for art, which is the most consistently recurring theme in this collection. Only the novella is particularly good, but the whole collection is very readable.

Book Review: The Scholomance, Novik: The Last Graduate, The Golden Enclaves

Title: The Last Graduate (The Scholomance Book 2)
Author: Naomi Novik
Published: Del Rey Books, 2021
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 390
Total Page Count: 452,845
Text Number: 1582
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Beginning her final year at the Scholomance, El finds herself ... babysitting a crowd of freshmen. This reverses my reading experience with A Deadly Education: it moves ever upward, more worldbuilding, wildly increasing stakes; an escalating momentum that avoids the sophomore slump. I like the intent of the moral arc, but it comes too easy. (This is also a complaint I had the first time I read A Deadly Education, so the trend is: that El is able to pinpoint and then solve fundamental problems with her world is cathartic but invites nitpicking, not because of inherent flaws in the writing but because it compares unfavorably to how unsolvable are the problems of our world). I also wish I had a better grip on the supporting characters; struggling to tell some of El's friends apart undermines my emotional investment. But while I can quibble, I really enjoyed this. Big crazy world, fun sarcastic tone, and while I nitpick how it tackles living-in-a-society, I still really appreciate that as a central theme.


Title: The Golden Enclaves (The Scholomance Book 3)
Author: Naomi Novik
Published: Del Rey Books, 2022
Rating: 5 of 5
Page Count: 410
Total Page Count: 453,255
Text Number: 1583
Read Because: continuing the series, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Fresh out of school, El grapples with her loss--and with a never-ending string of obligations, as Enclaves around the world come under attack and only she can save them. It requires lot of globe-trotting, and the travel is exhausting just to read about, and maybe too convenient: since travel is rarely magic-aided, El et al start to feel superhuman in non-magical ways, impinging on my suspension of disbelief.

But my one complaint is well-balanced. I love how Orion's backstory unfolds. This series has a lot of great knowledge drops, scenes where El has that key, inevitable, earthshattering realization--but the role of maw-mouths is especially effective, a note that echoes back through the entire series. And moreso I love the themes. I've quibbled with how these books handle the responsibilities of Living in a Society: compelling and relatable as a concern, but sometimes too simplistic in resolution. But nothing here is simplistic. "It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it" hits differently at different levels of power. El's power is immense, putting her in the unenviable position of being able to fix an unfixable society. She's forced to accept that the rest of the world must exist in that society, perpetuating it, hating it; that they are often unable. This is how to do wish-fulfillment: sufficiently logical and miserable that the fantasy of a better world feels earned. It's a great ending.

Nothing in the series offers the intensity and glee of the first book's early chapters, but ultimately? I don't mind.