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juushikaTitle: A Fistful of Sky (LaZelle Book 1)
Author: Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Published: New York: Ace, 2005 (2002)
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 368
Total Page Count: 159,281
Text Number: 465
Read Because: author recommended by Jo Walton, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Gypsum appears to be the only non-magical child in her family—until her troublesome power comes upon her a few years past its predicted time. I wanted so badly to like A Fistful of Sky, and there's one aspect I love: interloper Altria, who has a dynamic, compelling magic and relationship with Gypsum.
The rest, I dislike. The first person narrative is so bland that I have a better concept of every supporting character than I do the protagonist. The magic is illogical and comic while the plot focuses on determining its boundaries—an unsatisfying combination. And there's the campus rapist, Gyp's never-quite-satisfying relationship with her body combined with the constant appearance of food, and the quirky, large family undercut by currents of abuse; these things feel intentional but unsuccessful, attempts to create realistic complexity which lack necessary depth and instead are simply unpleasant. There's potential in A Fistful of Sky for a domestic, personal magic coupled with an ongoing coming of age. I appreciate that attempt—but don't believe it was realized; instead, this is a meandering, unpracticed, insubstantial effort.
Author: Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Published: New York: Ace, 2005 (2002)
Rating: 2 of 5
Page Count: 368
Total Page Count: 159,281
Text Number: 465
Read Because: author recommended by Jo Walton, ebook borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Gypsum appears to be the only non-magical child in her family—until her troublesome power comes upon her a few years past its predicted time. I wanted so badly to like A Fistful of Sky, and there's one aspect I love: interloper Altria, who has a dynamic, compelling magic and relationship with Gypsum.
The rest, I dislike. The first person narrative is so bland that I have a better concept of every supporting character than I do the protagonist. The magic is illogical and comic while the plot focuses on determining its boundaries—an unsatisfying combination. And there's the campus rapist, Gyp's never-quite-satisfying relationship with her body combined with the constant appearance of food, and the quirky, large family undercut by currents of abuse; these things feel intentional but unsuccessful, attempts to create realistic complexity which lack necessary depth and instead are simply unpleasant. There's potential in A Fistful of Sky for a domestic, personal magic coupled with an ongoing coming of age. I appreciate that attempt—but don't believe it was realized; instead, this is a meandering, unpracticed, insubstantial effort.
