“Books are the ultimate Dumpees:
put them down and they’ll wait for you forever; pay attention to them and they always love you back.”
― John Green, An Abundance of Katherines
Summer Days, Starry Nights is a sun-kissed story that opens with a spark which quickly turns to flame: Reenie’s mother, Mimi, is missing. When she reappears we find out that shiny, exotic Mimi who once dreamt of being a star and whose dark, silent moods could strike at any time, ran away without even leaving a note.The secrets and uncertain moods of Reenie’s mother aren’t the only threat to her family’s happiness, though. Business is in decline at their resort, Sandy Shores, and Reenie is worried; she loves her home - the lake and the sand, the cabins and the customers - more than anything. She can’t bear the thought of losing it.
Then Gwendolyn Cate arrives – Mimi’s solution to all their problems. Gwen is a ballet dancer in training from Toronto, come to shine things up a bit. But Reenie’s memory of the fairy-like girl turns out to be just that: a memory. At first, Gwen seems like another person entirely, keeping secrets and not letting Reenie in. Gwen is friendly, but not as friendly as Reenie wants her to be. She wants a best friend, not an older sister. So Reenie decides to take matters into her own hands and figures out a way to simultaneously draw out Gwen’s secrets, make everyone happy, and save Sandy Shores. Only things don’t quite go as planned.
I found Reenie so endearing. She's eager to prove herself, as well as at ease in her home - whether she’s fishing with her dad, taking care of her little sister, or accommodating customers. She’s on the cusp of adolescence, a teenager and yet not quite a teenager, wanting more responsibility but not realizing what that responsibility entails. Inevitably, she makes mistakes and learns about herself along the way. I most especially loved her relationship with her father. She admires him and longs for him to see just how capable she is.
Altogether, Summer Days, Starry Nights is warm and delightful summer reading, perfect for preteens and younger teens. It evokes that camp or cottage feel, as well as that time in life where you just want to be able to test your wings and see if you can fly.
So many exciting books are out this month! Here are two new arrivals that we've been waiting impatiently for:
The Oathbreaker's Shadow by Amy McCulloch:
From the flap copy:
In the land of Darhan promises are bound by magic, tied into knots, and worn with pride. Those who break them are physically scarred, cast out into the desert, and tormented by vengeful shadows of their treachery. So when Raim agrees to give his life as a warrior to the future Khan, he knows that he must honour his word until the day he dies. But on the night he takes his vow, Raim accidentally breaks a mysterious promise that he has worn since the day he was born. Yet how can he break an oath he has no memory of making? With the dark mark of a traitor seared into his skin, and forced into exile, Raim flees on a journey that will reveal the true meaning of honour, and uncover truths that will change his world for ever.
THE OATHBREAKER'S SHADOW is a fantasy pitched to fans of Philip Pullman and George R.R. Martin, and Kristen can't wait to read it. Forgotten oaths? Broken vows? Exile? Her heart-rate doubles just thinking about it.
The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen:
From the flap copy:
Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun. He and Emaline have
been together all through high school in Colby, the beach town where
they both grew up. But now, in the summer before college, Emaline
wonders if perfect is good enough. Enter Theo, a super-ambitious
outsider, a New Yorker assisting on a documentary film about a
reclusive local artist. Theo's sophisticated, exciting, and, best of
all, he thinks Emaline is much too smart for Colby. Emaline's
mostly-absentee father, too, thinks Emaline should have a bigger life,
and he's convinced that an Ivy League education is the only route to
realizing her potential. Emaline is attracted to the bright future that
Theo and her father promise. But she also clings to the deep roots of
her loving mother, stepfather, and sisters. Can she ignore the pull of
the happily familiar world of Colby?
Emaline wants the moon and more, but how can she balance where she comes from with where she's going?
Sarah Dessen's devoted fans will welcome this story of romance,
yearning, and, finally, empowerment. It could only happen in the summer.
Mandy loves loves loves Sarah Dessen and thinks that this should be in everyone's to-read pile this summer.
Also! Be sure to check out and enter our GIVEAWAY DRAW here. The contest ends on June 25th, so enter as many times as you can before midnight on June 24th to win really awesome books.
A round-up of bookish news going around the interwebs:
Maggie Stiefvater is holding an art contest to win an ARC of the The Dream Thieves. Go enter!
Check out the first few film stills of the Divergent movie over at Veronica Roth’s blog. (And if you haven’t seen the cover reveal for Allegiant yet, it’s here.) Oh, here she is again with Leigh Bardugo (Siege and Storm) talking about badass heroines.
Similarly, here's an author-editor interview with Sarah Dessen and her editor, Regina Hayes.
In celebration of our blog's relaunch (YAY!) we're giving away three prizes of books and ARCs (baskets not included):
Basket #1: The
Testing Series
The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau
Independent Study by Joelle Charbonneau (Advanced Reader’s
Copy)
Basket #2: Jenna Fox
Chronicles
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
The Fox Inheritance by Mary E. Pearson
Fox Forever by Mary E. Pearson
Basket #3: 7 Advanced
Reading Copies!
To Be Perfectly Honest by Sonya Sones
Earthbound by Aprilynne Pike
Ashes on the Waves by Mary Lindsey
Spellcaster by Claudia Gray
Confederates Don’t Wear Couture by Stephanie Kate Strohm
How to Lose Everything by Philipp Mattheis
The Wells Bequest by Polly Shulman
RULES.
There are a few ways to enter. These are the ways:
Post a
link to this giveaway on Facebook, twitter, tumblr, etc. Then come back
here and leave a comment with a link to where you posted it.
Like
our shiny new Facebook page. Similarly, come back here and leave a comment saying you did this.
Go into our store and sign up for our newsletter. Make sure to sign up using the ballot box, instead of writing your name down on our sign-up sheet, or your name won't be entered in the giveaway draw.
Do all of the above. The more things you do, the more times your name
gets entered, and the more likely you are to get picked. Aw yeah.
*IMPORTANT* The winner MUST be able to pick up their books in store (96 King St. N, Waterloo, Ontario). So if you live in Halifax or Vancouver or New York, that's totally cool, as long as you have a way to get here. :)
Contest ends at midnight on June 24. We’ll announce the winners on June 25 here on the blog. So check back then.
Mariko Tamaki’s earlier graphic novel, Skim, (about an adolescent girl struggling with her sexuality) was
beautifully written and handled with honesty and sensitivity. Her new novel, (you) set me on fire, has a lot of the
same insight.
Allison Lee is seventeen and starting college in the fall.
She’s had a rough senior year in high school: she’s set herself on fire twice (accidentally) and been in love once, and the wounds
are still fresh. College, she imagines, is the perfect setting to start again.
And things seem to be going along as planned until Allison meets a rebellious girl
named Shar and her world goes dramarama.
You’ve probably heard people say that life after high school
is really just a rehash of the same old dramas. Or maybe it’s more accurate to
say that high school social structure is a super-concentrated slice of life.
However you look at it, it’s fair to say that the teenage years are a goldmine
of dramatic possibility for novelists, and Mariko Tamaki takes advantage of
this in the best way possible. (you) set me on fire is reminiscent of the John Green at his best.
Working at a bookstore, it's great fun to see the books that people special order. Often they are bestsellers from years back; sometimes they are obscure or hard to find titles; and, occasionally, they are kids titles that make me nostalgic.
And, every once in a while, they have terrifying covers like the one to the right.
I've never read any Trixie Belden books, but I think if I owned this one as a kid, I would have hidden it in the attic. Why is Trixie wearing a severed head on her hand like a puppet? I always suspected Nancy Drew had a bit of a dark side, but Trixie, you're, like, twelve years old! In all seriousness though, I probably would have read the book just to figure out what the heck was going on. I am always fascinated by book cover art. I'm particularily interested
in the differences between the US/Canadian/UK versions of books. Or when
a book wins a medal and they change the cover to supposedly appeal to
the masses. Case in point: Shannon Hale books. The original cover
(illustrated one) for Princess Academy is so much more representative
of the story, in my opinion. What do you think?
Back in the late 80s, a friend lent me her copy of a yet-unheard-of-by-me teen magazine called Sassy. As I flipped through it's glossy, colourful pages I could almost feel my 13-year-old mind collapsing under the weight of all of my subverted expectation.
Sassy, for those who've never read it (and it's long defunct), was like a big, bad, sarcastic older sister to all the other goody-goody teen mags (Seventeen, I'm looking at you). Sassy introduced me to bands and musicians like Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Juliana Hatfield, and Liz Phair, and frequently published candid articles about sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll.
But the very thing that made Sassy so great, eventually led to the magazine's demise. A group of angry mothers killed Sassy. Not happy with the magazine's content ("How dare you try and inspire our daughters to be independent-minded, informed young women!"), the mothers started an advertising boycott. They wrote to all of Sassy's major advertising clients and asked them to boycott the publication. And, as you can imagine, it didn't take long for things to go south.
Sassy folded in 1996, and, since then, my heart has longed for another magazine to come along and fill it's stylish combat boots. Bust has been a worthy seatwarmer for a few years now, but it's more of a young women's (20+) Sassy and lacks some of the tongue-in-cheek charm of it's predecessor, though it definitely is a topnotch magazine.
Anyway, let's skip to the happy ending. Through a recent article in Bustmagazine, I discovered that 16-year -old fashion blogger Tavi Gevinson, with the help of a few others including Jane Pratt (!) and Ira Glass (!), have created an online magazine called Rookie that effectively blows my mind. It's everything Sassy was and more. Tavi, thanks for loving Sassy even though you were not born before the last issue rolled. You have made my world a better place.
And...just to send me right over the edge of happiness, Rookie has a book coming out this fall. It's a collection of the best of the magazine's first year.
Rhymes with Cupid
by Anna Humphrey is the story of Elyse: a seventeen-year-old employee
of Goodman’s Gifts and Stationery with a beyond-her-years jaded attitude
towards romantic love, and a passionate dislike for Valentine’s Day and
all of its associations. After a particularly bad breakup the year
before, Elyse just wants to make it through Valentine’s Day with her
head down and her spirits relatively unscathed.
Enter Patrick, Elyse’s next door neighbour, secret admirer, and
indomitable flirt. Elyse tries her darnedest to deflect his advances,
but gradually begins to realize that Patrick may really be the good guy
that he seems to be. As in “what you see is what you get,” and “yes,
there really are good guys out there.” Remember Darcy from Pride and
Prejudice? Good guy, just some trouble with sharing his feelings. Lloyd
Dobler from Say Anything is another good example. He’s cool enough without you, but you’re still worth his time. Patrick Verona from Ten Things I Hate about You turns out all right in the end. And Cyrano de Bergerac has all the right words, if not the confidence to speak them himself.
So, see? Nice guys are all over the place if you look closely enough.
The bad boy fantasy makes it all too easy for women to excuse bad
behaviour and settle for being treated like they don’t deserve more. Rhymes with Cupid
is a sweet, good-natured romance that made me smile on more than one
occasion. The story is a classic and the writing is witty and smart, to
boot. Read Rhymes with Cupid this Valentine’s Day and indulge all of
your good guy fantasies. Lloyd Dobler would approve.
Sixteen-year-old Hazel Grace has stage four cancer that is spreading to her lungs. Thanks to a hopeful new trial drug, the growth of her cancer has been halted for a time. At a cancer support group meeting to help her deal with her depression, Hazel meets Augustus Waters, a handsome, charming young man whose own cancer prognosis looks better than Hazel’s. Hazel is drawn to Augustus' sense of humour, unique worldview and thorough grasp of irony and metaphor. Augustus has a weird habit of dangling an unlit cigarette between his lips, but later explains: “It's a metaphor, see. You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing.” Hazel’s relationship with Augustus and their shared love of a book called An Imperial Affliction by a reclusive Dutch writer named Peter van Houten take them along an unusual path of self-discovery.
Beautifully written and filled with humour, The Fault in Our Starsis also one of the most highly anticipated Young Adult titles this year. And it’s no wonder. It’s author, John Green, has almost two million followers on Twitter (http://twitter.com/realjohngreen) and a whole community of nerdy fans at vlogbrothers (http://www.youtube.com/vlogbrothers) , a collection of video journals that are a back and forth correspondence with his brother Hank. The videologs are caffeine-fuelled musings on just about everything worth talking about. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Green’s fans are of the die-hard variety, regularly posting encouraging comments on his website like “I can’t wait to receive my signed, pre-ordered copy of your new book so I can lick your signature!” OK, maybe no one actually said that, but you get the idea.
The new book does NOT disappoint. The plot and topic of this new book was a closely-guarded secret with Green and his publishers for a while, so I had no idea what this one was about. John Green could sell his shopping lists on ebay and make a fortune so it almost seemed like what he chose to write about was irrelevant. But here’s the kicker:The Fault in Our Starsis about one of the single most difficult topics around: childhood cancer. In a lesser writer’s hands, this would be the kind of book I would diligently avoid; however, this is why it’s not a problem:
1)John Green’s previous (and award-winning) bookLooking for Alaskadeals with death in a sensitive, intelligent, and even, at times, humorous way.
2)Green writes teenage dialogue good enough to make Joss Whedon (Buffy) and Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls) sit up and take notice.
3)The Fault in Our Stars is filled with lots of literary references and poetry. I love that Green never assumes that his audience is stupid.
The Fault in Our Starswill be a feast for existing John Green fans, and--for new readers--a great introduction to a young adult writer at the top of his game.
From Brian Selznick, the creator of The Invention of Hugo Cabret, the Caldecott Medal winner, comes another breathtaking tour de force.
Set fifty years apart, two independent stories — Ben's told in words and Rose's in pictures — weave back and forth with mesmerizing symmetry. How they unfold and ultimately intertwine will surprise you, challenge you, and leave you breathless with wonder.
Ever since his mom died, Ben feels lost. At home with her father, Rose feels alone. He is searching for someone, but he is not sure who. She is searching for something, but she is not sure what. When Ben finds a mysterious clue hidden in his mom's room, When a tempting opportunity presents itself to Rose, Both children risk everything to find what's missing.
With over 460 pages of original drawings and playing with the form he invented in his trailblazing debut novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Brian Selznick once again sails into uncharted territory and takes readers on an awe-inspiring journey. Rich, complex, affecting, and beautiful, Wonderstruck is a stunning achievement from a uniquely gifted artist and visionary.
I LOVE all things steampunk. And I LOVE anything by Scott Westerfeld. So when I laid my hands on Leviathan, the first of his steampunk-inspired, totally amazing series in the fall of 2009, I was smitten. Behemoth came out next, and this fall the conclusion to the series arrived in our little bookstore to much fanfare (mostly from me). Scoot over here to see my review of Goliath to get a feel of what this series is all about.
The good folks at Simon and Schuster Canada set me up with an interview with Scott Westerfeld and his thoughtful answers are reproduced below. It seems much more steampunk to use last names only so Scott is "Mr. Westerfeld", and I will be, um... "Mrs. Sommerfield -Smith" (oh, why not?) So, as they say, tie up your dirigible and stay awhile!
Mrs. Sommerfield-Smith: You’ve done an amazing job of creating a fascinating alternate WWI history in the Leviathan series. You create some great “what if” scenarios and divisions (Clankers vs. Darwinists, boys vs. girls (!)). In your afterword to Leviathan you mention that “the nature of steampunk is blending future and past” and that your series “is as much about possible futures as alternate pasts.” Could you elaborate on this?
Mr. Westerfeld: Steampunk is about messing with history, Victorian history in particular. It's about bringing a flame-thrower to a tea party, while still wearing an appropriate silk cravat. So it's not just a mix of future and past, but of refinement and mayhem.
Mrs. Sommerfield-Smith: Why did you decide to give these novels a steampunk aesthetic? Where did you first encounter steampunk?
Mr. Westerfeld: My first steampunk experience was at Disney World. I was about eight years old, and went on the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride. Something about a nuclear submarine with a pipe organ and baroque stylings really clicked with me. It's that strange mix of technologies and time periods that make certain people love steampunk.
Mrs. Sommerfield-Smith: I’ve noticed steampunk appearing more and more in literature, but also movies and television. Neil Gaiman recently wrote an episode of Doctor Who that had a decidedly steampunk feel. Are there any TV shows with a steampunk look/philosophy that have drawn your attention?
Mr. Westerfeld: I think the movie world (and more recently TV) likes the look and feel of steampunk, but doesn't know what to do with its broader themes yet. Steampunk is about rewriting history, in effect, pushing back the constraints that society placed on people because of their gender or beliefs or who their parents were. And there has yet to be a TV version of steampunk that addresses that larger project. I will admit that I grew up with The Wild, Wild West, however, and that I desperately wanted my own personal gizmo-filled train car.
Mrs. Sommerfield-Smith: In addition to your extremely successful YA series’ you’ve written five science fiction novels for adults. Why did you decide to write for young adults? What are the particular merits of writing for this audience?
Mr. Westerfeld: Teenagers are voracious readers, they send more and better fan mail, and they aren't as limited in their genre choices as adults. But I think the coolest thing about them is how engaged with language they are. At any given moment, more teenagers than adults are studying a foreign language, writing poetry, memorizing song lyrics, and making up slang. Teens are still acquiring language to some extent, and thus they take more joy and interest in the way novels play with words. As a writer who likes to generate slang and other kinds of neologisms, I find them a much more engaged and exciting audience with which to communicate.
Mrs. Sommerfield-Smith: Keith Thompson’s illustrations in the three novels are stunning. I love it when books are illustrated with black and white illustrations. At any time did you and Keith Thompson work together to come up with a “look” for the illustrations, or were writing and illustrating two separate endeavours?
Mr. Westerfeld: I would send Keith first drafts of three or four chapters at a time, and he would respond very quickly with sketches, so we were bouncing back and forth from the beginning. Often I would rewrite based on his illustrations, because I soon found that he was a better engineer than me, and sometimes a better researcher as well. So at times I would be quite general, "Something's going to chase in them in a couple of chapters. Could you draw something fast?" and then let my writing follow his art.
Mrs. Sommerfield-Smith: The internet, do you love it or hate it? Does it help or hinder you as a writer? Are there benefits and/or pitfalls to having a presence online while being an active writer?
Mr. Westerfeld: I think being in touch with readers is a great experience. Teens are wonderfully frank about what they like and dislike in my fiction, which is a really great kind of feedback to get. But the best thing about the internet is the way that teens engage each other, forming communities of readers. And these communities spread outward from the books to the wider world, as with the Harry Potter Alliance and its charitable works. A love of books has always been a way for like-minded people to find each other, and the internet has only made that project more vast and wonderful.
Mrs. Sommerfield-Smith: Your series, Uglies, has a brilliant new sci-fi take on that old (teenage) chestnut: “Be yourself”. In Leviathan, Deryn disguises herself as a boy to join the British Air Force and must be careful not to let her secret slip. I like the fact that you’ve drawn Deryn as an independent, strong-willed young woman, but she’s also not without insecurities and prejudices. What is so unique about this time in a child’s life when they are coming-of-age, and why is it such a fascinating theme to write (and read!) about?
Mr. Westerfeld: I agree that the theme of teenage fiction is Identity. Young people are still figuring out who they are, after all. (Everyone is, really, but teenagers are better at admitting it.) Because the teenage years are filled with epic firsts—first love, first betrayal, first true loss—it's a tremendously dramatic time to write about.
Mrs. Sommerfield-Smith: I like the way the adults in this novel, particularly Dr. Nora Barlow, seem to be positive influences on Deryn and Alek. Was this a conscious choice?
Mr. Westerfeld:I think Barlow and Volger have both positive and negative aspects. They provide a lot of good advice to their young charges, but their overall worldview is one of conflict and competition. Deryn and Alek, on the other hand, are learning the importance of working together across lines of ideology and class. So it's up to my younger characters to separate the good from the bad when it comes to their elders' example and counsel.
Mrs. Sommerfield-Smith: And do you categorize, if you could categorize your books at all, as speculative fiction? If so, what are the freedoms of writing in this genre? Are there any limitations? If not, what sets your books outside the categorization of speculative fiction?
Mr. Westerfeld: I'm lucky in writing for young adults, in that my books don't get categorized as much. I've written science fiction, fantasy, contemporary realism, and now steampunk, and yet all my books can sit happily together in the teen section of the bookstore. And that's all us writers can really ask for, that our books be findable! All the rest of it is for the critics to worry about.
Mandy and her fellow blogger and friend Kiirstin have had a lot of fun "Book Clubbing" on this blog. No, I don't mean violently attacking books with blunt objects (I can already imagine a librarian-led protest rally in response to this), but rather chatting, book-club style, about books they love.
My coworker and friend Bronwyn and I decided to do the latter with the book Incarceron by Catherine Fisher. Bronwyn's read both of the books in the series, Incarceron and Sapphique, so she's supplied me with a little teaser for each:
Incarceron:
In a world thousands of years from now, where everyone lives as though it was still the 17th century, there exists an elaborate prison. Incarceron is so vast that it contains more than cells: metal forests, forgotten cities, vast wilderness, and fog-filled never-ending ravines. Instead of stars at night, the prisoners are followed by glowing red dots, the eyes of the prison that follow their every move. Seventeen-year-old Finn has no memory but believes that he was born outside of Incarceron. He finds a crystal key which allows him to communicate with Claudia. She not only lives outside, she is also the daughter of Incarceron's warden. Finn is determined to escape the prison, and Claudia believes she can help him. But they don't realize that there is more to Incarceron than meets the eye. Escape will take their greatest courage and cost more than they know.
Sapphique:
Without giving too much away, Finn and Claudia are outside together. Finn has discovered that this other world is not what he had hoped for. He must obey rules of protocol and etiquette. His friends are still stuck in Incarceron and he feels that he has abandoned them. They are searching for a magical glove, rumoured to give them the power to escape and join Finn. As the prison prepares to battle, so to does the Outside. The dynamic ending to this book will take your breath away!
***
Bronwyn: Hi Erica!
Erica: Hi Bronwyn!
Bronwyn: How are you doing? Did you get a chance to finish Incarceron?
Erica: Yes. Andrew and I were travelling home from Hamilton yesterday night
and I read a couple of chapters by flashlight. Don't worry, I wasn't the one driving! But,
point being, this book is THAT suspenseful. I couldn't wait to get home to read it.
Bronwyn: I felt the same way. I couldn't wait to finish the book and then I couldn't
wait to read the sequel, Sapphique!
Erica: You recommended that I read this book. What attracted you in the first
place? Why did you pick if off the shelf?
Bronwyn: Well first of all the beautiful cover of that key drew me in. I know as
booksellers we aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I do it all the time.
Then I was really drawn in by this unique idea that Catherine Fisher created in her
book, about a kingdom 3000 years in the future that dresses and acts like they
are living in Versailles and has a prison that is a whole other world that is really an
experiment gone wrong.
Bronwyn: I was also fascinated by the amazing array of gadgets that they use
in the kingdom, things like skin wands to not look old.
Erica: I know! The cover totally drew me in too! You know how much I love anything
steampunk. I opened the front cover and there are a whack of awesome quotes:
"...a steampunk tour de force; ...a gripping futuristic fantasy", etc. So the beautiful
cover and the reviews inside really sold me on this book. The setting (3000 years in
the future, but living as if they are in the 17th century) is very steampunk,
and I found this idea fascinating. The idea that the world is controlled by imposing the
ideals of a former era is brilliant.
Erica: And gadgets! The skin wands reminded me of the the work that Cinna
the stylist did on Katniss in The Hunger Games.
Bronwyn: I also found the main characters -- Finn in the jail and Claudia on "earth" –
very well rounded. I found myself cheering for them and also sometimes a little scared
of them or disappointed in the decisions that they made. I like when an author does that,
when their characters are not superheroes or perfect wonder-beings.
Erica: Yeah, I agree. These characters are well constructed. I liked that Fisher uses the
trope of the princess that is betrothed to an odious prince, and yet Claudia is not the
standard damsel in distress.
Erica: I was also really impressed with the way that Fisher developed the Prison as a
CHARACTER in the novel. The idea of a sentient prison reminded me a bit of the computer
(HAL 9000) in the movie 2001. I think it`s such a scary premise: a prison that is all seeing,
all-knowing and that is responsible for the life and death of its inmates.
Bronwyn: Certainly, Claudia is a woman who knows her own mind and is determined to
get her way. I think she was very empowered, especially because she had been mostly raised
by this master tutor who gave her education, ethics, but mostly taught her how to think
and question the world around her. I have not seen 2001, but I am familiar with the premise.
Sometimes I wonder about that, here we are surrounded by gadgets that we depend on.
Are they all-seeing? Anyways that's a bit too Big Brother. But the books are really built on
that Big Brother premise. And even though in Claudia's world they claim that they are "free",
in fact they are not, there are silent eyes and ears listening to the citizens at all times.
In Incarceron it's obvious when these red eyes are following you wherever you go.
Erica: True. Both Claudia and Finn are each imprisoned in their own way. You could even
argue that Finn's imprisonment is less sinister, because it's right out there. Everyone KNOWS
that Big Brother is watching, so to speak. So I`ve been poking around online and I noticed
that the rights to this book have been optioned and a movie is due out in 2013.
Taylor Lautner and Emma Watson are set to star as Finn and Claudia. What do you think
of this?
Bronwyn: OOOOO that sounds amazing! As I was reading both books I was trying to
figure out how it could be made into a movie because both worlds are so complex, especially
the prison. Incarceron just felt it had all of these layers of worlds contained within it. The
metallic forest that Finn and his group walk through to try and escape the prison, really was
so beautiful, I pictured an enchanted world and then all of a sudden the prison lights go on
and you remember that this is really a jail. A strange (and dare I say wondrous) jail?
Erica: I think that they'll definitely make beautiful movies. The setting is so visually rich
and detailed. The cinematographer's going to have a party. OK. So if the Twilight franchise
has Team Jacob and Team Edward, I propose that there will be a Team Finn vs. Team Jared.
Am I alone in having a bit of a crush on Jared? Tall, dark, handsome Sapient/tutor that
he is?
Bronwyn: I think I would probably be on Team Finn... He definitely seems a "rebel with a
cause". But I can see how Jared is a beguiling character. The second book in the series,
at the very end Jared surprises me, and seems to have a very large character shift.
Bronwyn: Are you planning on reading the second book?
Erica: Definitely. I'm hoping maybe my Jared/Claudia fantasy will be realized in
Sapphique? Haa, just kidding. Too pedagogically inappropriate. No spoilers please.
I just Googled Jared/Incareron/fanfic and the author R.J. Anderson has a series of
fanfiction based on Incarceron.
Bronwyn: Interesting. I am not familiar with fanfiction. What is that?
Erica: It's when fans of a novel or a particular character in a novel take that character
and create their own story and publish it online.It's kind of an outlet for fans to expand
on a story or take characters in a different direction. It’s like a DIY way to make your
favourite stories last longer!
Erica: Here's the link for the R. J. Anderson fanfiction:
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