Beautiful Words #3

Yes, I know, yet another quote from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green...it's not my fault he's one of those people who write great one-liners!

"Waiting On" Wednesday #3: To Hold the Bridge by Garth Nix

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. Since she's invited anyone to join in, let me share with you a book I've been anticipating for a long time. Since he is one of my favorite YA Fantasy authors, I follow Garth Nix on Facebook and Twitter, which is how I found out about this collection of stories:

"An entertaining short-story collection from bestselling fantasy author Garth Nix, including an Old Kingdom novella, a short story set in the same world as Shade's Children, and another story set in the world of A Confusion of Princes. 

Garth Nix is renowned for his legendary fantasy works, but To Hold the Bridge showcases his versatility as the collection offers nineteen short stories from every genre of literature including science fiction, paranormal, realistic fiction, mystery, and adventure. Whether writing about vampires, detectives, ancient spirits, or odd jobs, Garth Nix's ability to pull his readers into new worlds is extraordinary."  

-Barnes & Noble online

The Old Kingdom series is one of my top favorite of all time, so I can't wait to read that novella! What book are you most anticipating? Comment below or join in with a WoW post on your own blog!

Review of The Ruins of Ambrai by Melanie Rawn

The Ruins of Ambrai
by Melanie Rawn

Publication date: March 7th, 1997
Pan Books, 928 pages

Source: Borrowed from a friend

"A thousand years ago, Mageborns fled prejudice and persecution to colonize the planet Lenfell--a perfect refuge for those whose powers were perceived as a threat by people not gifted with magic. But the greater the magic, the greater the peril. Lenfell was soon devastated by a war between rival Mageborn factions that polluted the land with Wild Magic and unleashed hideous specters called Wraithenbeasts. Now, generations later, someone is planning another war on the still crippled planet that will tear three Mageborn sisters apart."

- Goodreads.com

The short of it: 

With the intricacy of R.R. Martin's popular series A Song of Ice and Fire, the spywork and cultural undertones of Tamora Pierce's Daughter of the Lioness series, and Melanie Rawn's own unique and very clever gender role reversal twist, The Ruins of Ambrai is a must-read, especially for lovers of strong female characters.


The long of it:

I did it! I finally finished this monster of a book. It took me a little longer than usual because my little one is teething and needs constant comfort and distraction...and, okay, I was stuck at the last 100 pages of resolution, to be honest. Once I knew how the climax, which had been building for about 700 pages, turned out, it was hard to find the motivation to keep going. But as soon as I finished it, I ran downstairs to go pick up the next book, because these books may be long, but so worth it. So let's get to the review, shall we?

The political plotting and covert operations, all set in the fantasy world of Lenfell, reminded me a lot of Tamora Pierce's Daughter of the Lioness series, which is one of my absolute favorites. However, The Ruins of Ambrai is definitely not a YA pageturner; in fact, the intricacy of the political and cultural webs rivals the now-popular A Song of Ice and Fire. That means that sometimes you have to get through chunks of world-building before getting to a bit of action, but, like in A Song of Ice and Fire, it's so, so worth it. And thankfully, Melanie Rawn is much more merciful with her characters than R.R. Martin.

Having compared this book to two other entire series, I'd like to go into what makes it totally unique from anything else I've ever read: it's set in a true matriarchal society. Sure, I've read books that called their societies matriarchal, but instead of women ruling like men have for centuries in the real world, these societies were just gender-equal, or attempted to be. It took reading Melanie Rawn's version to realize that they hadn't been very good imaginings of matriarchies. Here's what I mean: in The Ruins of Ambrai, men are constantly knitting. Knitting. And mending clothes. And decorating houses. And raising children. And arranging flowers. But it's not just that the men are doing all the "girly" things; Rawn even changes how people in the world of Lenfell perceive certain activities. Men are allowed to enjoy leisure activities like hawking and hunting, but these are considered the activities of the weaker sex. One of my favorite moments in the book is when a male character is being described as the perfect "modest male" for being covered in clothes from head to toe, including a hair-covering coif. It's just too funny.

Do you need to have some sort of perverse sense of feminist satisfaction to enjoy this book? Not at all! What I really enjoyed about this matriarchal world is the shock value of imagining this totally upside down society. I've always considered myself a woman-empowerer, but the fact that I was thrown off-balance every time a man sat down to knit in this book really opened my eyes to how deeply ingrained our patriarchal way of thinking is. So not only was the gender role reversal amusing, but it was also enlightening and thought-provoking.

Oh, and the magic and battling were super cool too.

My rating? 4.9 out of 5 stars.

Top Ten Tuesday #1: Inspiring Quotes from Books

So last Tuesday I missed out on Teaser Tuesdays because I was still reading the same (very long!) book as the previous Tuesday, so I had no new teasers to share. This week I find myself in the same situation (I'm not kidding, this book is loooong) so I thought I'd try out a different ongoing book feature on those weeks that I'm still reading the same book: Top Ten Tuesday!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature created by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week, they share a new Top Ten list for bloggers everywhere to answer. If you want to join in or check out some other lists, drop by The Broke and The Bookish. Today's theme is...

Top Ten Inspiring Quotes from Books

1. From F. Scott Fitzgerald's great classic, The Great Gatsby:

2. From Vladimir Nabokov's controversial Lolita:

3. From Christopher Paolini's Eragon:

4. From John Green's newly popular The Fault in Our Stars:

5. From Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince:

6. From Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower:

7. From Sarah Dessen's The Truth About Forever:

"Some things are meant to be broken. Imperfect. Chaotic. It's the universe's way of providing contrast, you know? There have to be a few holes in the road. It's how life is."

8. From Veronica Roth's Divergent:

9. From Rick Yancey's The 5th Wave:

"That's what you do when the curtain is falling--you give the line that the audience wants to hear."

10. From Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke & Bone:

These are only a few of the good quotes I've come across in my recent reading, not necessarily my all-time favorite quotes. I love seeing book quotes reproduced in image form; it enhances their already evocative imagery. If you haven't read some of the books from this list, you are missing out! What are some of your favorite quotes from books?

Shelf Candy Sunday: Michael Wagner

This Sunday's Shelf Candy recognizes Michael Wagner's epic mystical covers for Michael Scott's series, The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel. 

I've been admiring these covers for years. I find them so charming that I keep getting tempted to buy the books, even though I've read the jacket descriptions, the online descriptions, and even a chapter without feeling interested. The covers are just so dang mystical and spellbook-y, I can't resist. Bravo, Michael Wagner! Clearly he did his job well, as a cover is meant to lure readers in to discover the book's story. My only complaint is that the author's name kind of gets lost in this busy cover, and I personally think remembering the author's name is a pretty important part of being a reader. Aside from that, this is definitely a fantastic cover design. Maybe I'll buy the books and just pretend I have a bunch of spellbooks...oooh.

Beautiful Words #2

This quote is from a poem that has echoed in my mind since high school required reading.

- "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot

Friday Finds #3

Friday Finds is a weekly event hosted by MizB @ A Daily Rhythm that showcases the books you "found" and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list...whether you found them online, or in a bookstore, or in the library - wherever!

My FF this week were found mostly online: Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, the usual.

If you'd like to share your Friday Finds, leave a comment! I'd love to see what you've found to read this week.