Systematic Student:
legend

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner is the first book of The Queen's Theif series. In this book, we meet Gen, short for Eugenides, named for the God Eugenides, the patron God of theives. When we meet him, Gen has been locked in the King's prison for an unknown length of time, although it's clear he's been there a while. We don't know much about Gen, and he doesn't bother to tell anyone too much about himself beyond the boast that is responsible for his current predicament; "I can steal anything".
He is taken from the prison by a man close to the King, and told that he is going to help him as a theif, or... else (cue omnious music). With no other choices, Gen leave the King's City with a small group of travelers on a journey with an as yet undisclosed destination. We know what Gen knows, which is simply that his expertise as a theif will be required.
The book is narrated by Gen, and we learn about him as the novel progresses. I loved his internal dialouge, and the way he speaks and interacts with the people taking him on the quest. Although he's a theif, just 'realeased' from prison, Gen has a strong moral compass, and seems very genuine, and very sincere. It is clear from the beginning that there is more to Gen than meets the eye, but very little information is given to us. Most of it we are left to wonder about, puzzle over, and wait until Gen sees fit to let people know more about him.
The book is very well written. We are given enough information throughout the story that I never felt frustrated by what I didn't know. I knew enough to be comfortable with the story, and I trusted that everything would be clear in due time. This is not one of those series that leaves you guessing about important details and facts for two or three books at a time. I thought Turner handled it brilliantly.
The characters are also fairly vibrant, even the supporting characters. But, my favorite part of the book was learning about their myths and legends. There are several occasions, as Gen's group is traveling where they sit beside the fire and tell legends and stories of the God's and the creation of the world. I've always been fascinated by mythology, and I loved Turner's versions of those myths. Most were similar to the Greek legends, and it's clear that Turner borrowed from them, but the myths do not feel stolen. They feel created. I could easily believe that these were genuine legends believed and honored by people thousands of years old.
I'm anxious to read the next books in the series. Not because I'm desperate to know what happens next because the author left us with a huge cliffhanger, because there isn't one. The Thief could easily be a story all it's own. This storyline is finished and although it is clear there is more to life for these characters than that which we have seen, this story is finished, and could easily be read on it's own and then left. But, I'm eager to read the remaining books in the series because the writing was beautiful, the characters engaging and the world is a treat to be in. I'd definitely recommend picking up this book. It's probably right close to the border between MG and YA, so it's just fine for younger readers, but there's enough to the story that older teens and even adults can enjoy it too.

*Disclaimer: I received an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

**Warning: This review contains more spoilers than normal. Most of the spoilers listed happen within the first 60 pages or so, but it does give a lot more information than the blurb.**

The Thyssen Affair by Mozelle Richardson is a spy thriller set in 1980. Our hero is Canyon (Cane) Eliot, a retired CIA agent in his late 50s who owns a ranch in Colorado. Peter, a surrogate son, and active member of the CIA contacts him with a job. The Russians have dug up the skull of an unimportant major buried in a WWII POW cemetery in Oklahoma and 'we' don't know why. The CIA was able to intercept the package before it reached Zurich, and now they are trying to determine the importance of the skull, and keep it away from the Russians.

At first, Cane refuses. He is retired, comfortable, and has no desire to reenter the job at his age. Peter manages to convince him he is a necessary part of this picture and the only one capable of completing it. Cane's family roots are German, and he spent a lot of time growing up in Germany. As a result, Cane speaks flawless German, looks German, and knows his way around much of Germany. They need Cane to go to Germany, posing as a German soldier to contact the widow of 'the skull' to find any clue as to why the Russians want it bad enough to dig it up after 30+ years in the ground. Add to this an assortment of Russian spies, a legendary Israeli spy and a huge Nazi conspiracy and we've got ourselves a thriller.

I generally really enjoy the thriller/suspense/conspiracy genre. I love reading a book that makes my pulse rate jump, my adrenaline flow and keeps me awake at night because I'm so invested in the story. This book didn't deliver any of that. It's supposed to be suspenseful and intense but I spent more time being bored or disbelieving than captivated. Now let me tell you why.

For starters, the bad guys were the Russians and the Nazis. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm getting awfully tired of the bad guys always being Russian. You see it all the time in books, movies and television. I almost feel like every time I turn around, it's another Russian. I do understand that this book takes place in 1980, which is during the Cold War. So, it makes sense that the CIA's attitude is (and I quote) "... if the Russians want it then by God so do we!" But still. Really? It just felt a little bit ridiculous to me. And seriously... Does it always have to be the Russians?! But wait! Even better than Russians, we also have a secret underground Nazi organization devoted to helping former SS agents return to Germany and start new lives. How do they do this? By using the millions and millions of dollars worth of stolen Jewish treasure.

The Russians know that the skull does not truly belong to Major Von Stober, but really Otto Thyssen, BFF to Hitler himself. (Hitler was best man at his wedding.) So, it makes sense that Hitler left Thyssen in control of the finances. He was in charge of, and responsible for a large portion of the treasures stolen from the Jews. He had an Italian dentist plant a micro-dot treasure map in his tooth. Let me interject here briefly, because I have a few problems with this idea. First, I don't know how accurate the idea of a 1940s micro anything technology is. Was there really the technology to do this back then? Even if this technology was possible, I don't know that. All I know is that micro technology is supposed to be relatively new tech. But more importantly, if Thyssen knew where the treasure was headed, or had put it there himself, why on earth would he bother planting a chip into the bones in his skull?! Seriously! He already knew where he needed to go! It just felt illogical to me and, considering that this is the basis for the story, I was a little leery.

Then, you have the spies. So many spies! Seriously! We have the ex-CIA agent. He's in his late 50s and continually remarks that he's just too old for this stuff, and yet... he somehow manages to outsmart, out fight and just plain out do every one, every time. Next, we have Anya. She's a beautiful KGB agent, pretty high up the chain. She's important. But, she isn't very good... Oh, and you can catch where this connection is headed within the first few chapters. Cane's reaction to meeting her makes it pretty obvious. Anya also have several friends that we meet throughout the duration of the novel, there to help and/or protect Anya. I won't tell you who they are, or what real role they take, because I don't want to spoil too much of the story, we also have the undercover Nazis. They make several appearances as well. But, as if that isn't enough right there, we also have a super hard core Israeli tailing Cane who is also interested in the treasure. But, he wants to reclaim it for the people (the Jews) that it was stolen from. In case you missed it, that's a lot of spies in one story.

Overall, this book wasn't awful, but it wasn't amazing either. I'm not sorry that I read it but I doubt I will be picking it up again.
Have you read it? What did you think?

When Shlemiel went to Warsaw and Zlateh the Goat are both collections of short stories awarded a Newbery Honor in 1969 and 1967 respectively. They were written by Isaac Bashevis Singer, a Jewish author well known for his short stories, who received the 1978 Nobel Prize in Literature.

These two collections included several stories that I really enjoyed and many that I didn't much like. Several stories in each book took place in the city of Chelm and mentioned the 7 City Elders (described by the author as fools). One of the residents of that city is Shlemiel, who appears in several stories and is also, undeniably, a fool. Although I like to think I have a sense of humor, and I enjoy a good taste of the ridiculous every now and again, sometimes, it's just a little too much. The two collections contained just a few too many stories dealing with the utter foolishness of these people for me to truly enjoy the reading. To give a quick example, a short story from Zlateh the Goat entitled The Snow in Chelm begins like this:

Chelm was a village of fools, fools young and old. One night someone spied the moon reflected in a barrel of water. The people of Chelm imagined it had fallen in. They sealed the barrel so that the moon would not escape. When the barrel was opened in the morning and the moon wasn't there, the villagers decided it had been stolen. They sent for the police, and when the thief couldn't be found, the fools of Chelm cried and moaned.

For some, I'm sure these stories would be very enjoyable and amusing tales. However, reading story after story involving more and more absurdities became just a little too much for me. Between the two books, almost half the stories dealt in some way with the preposterous happenings of the residents of Chelm.

However, I generally found the stories that did not mention Shlemiel or the Elders (and people) of Chelm to be very entertaining, and often delightful. I especially enjoyed the stories, Rabbi Leib & the Witch Cunegunde, and Shrewd Todie & Lyzer the Miser and the message of Utzel & His Daughter Poverty from Warsaw. My favorites from Zlateh were the stories Fool's Paradise, and Zlateh the Goat. These stories are all clever and well written, often with a warm moral, subtly teaching the reader ways to improve and become better without beating you over the head with the moral.

For the most part, I enjoyed reading these stories. It's always nice to get a new look at a culture I know very little about. In the foreward to Warsaw, Singer mentions that while each are retold using his own language and ideas, several of the stories within came from legends and stories told by his mother and grandmother. I love the different folk tales from various cultures, so that was fun. I did enjoy reading these short stories, and am glad I picked them up.

There are so many books in the Once Upon a Time series and it's been so long since I've read many of them, that I just wanted to take a minute to give you a brief paragraph or so of my thoughts on each of the books in the series I consider my favorites. I'm going to give you a few tidbits here and there of parts of these stories that really stood out to me.

I've made no secret of the fact that The Twelve Dancing Princesses is my favorite of all fairy tales. It has been since I was a little girl. So, I was especially excited to read Suzanne Weyn's retelling, The Night Dance. I love that this retelling ties in Arthurian Legends with the tale of the 12 princesses. That connection really made the story stand out to me and gave it much more strength that it would otherwise have had.

I watched a stage production of Motzart's opera The Magic Flute, and it was stunning. I loved the music, the story and the costumes were beyond beautiful. (This link here will show you the costume design for the show I saw.) The retelling, Sunlight and Shadow by Cameron Dokey was beautiful. It is faithful to the spirit of the original while still bringing it's own pieces to the story. It is a retelling that honors the original while still adding much that is new.

I had never read a novelized version of The Frog Prince before I read Suzanne Weyn's Water Song. I was initially a little bit worried, because how are you supposed to build a romance between a girl and a frog and make me believe their story. Weyn's decision to have our 'frog' be an injured American soldier (during WWI) who feels more at home on water than on land (he grew up in the Bayou) was brilliant.

Cameron Dokey's version of Sleeping Beauty, Beauty Sleep is one of my favorites because I love Princess Aurore. She's a strong character who doesn't let her circumstances get the better of her. Unable to do traditionally princessy things, because they all require needles, she instead becomes very close to the people of her kingdom, and is willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to protect them. She is one of the strongest internal female leads in the series and I love her. The magic in this one, and the way the curse functions also fascinates me.

Tracy Lynn's only addition to the series, Snow (Snow White) is one of my favorites because it is completely unlike any other retelling of any fairy tale I've read. Rather than obsessively checking her magic mirror, the evil queen here is a bit of a mad, evil scientist. She is so desperate for eternal youth and beauty, and the ability to thwart or overcome death that she performs unnatural experiments on people and animals, searching for the answer and the path it puts her on is very nearly deadly for our heroine.

Cameron Dokey's version of Rapunzel is also a favorite because of it's uniqueness, and because it makes the witch a slightly more sympathetic character. In Golden, after the witch catches them in her garden, she makes the wife promise to give up her child if she cannot love her at first site. Recklessly the beautiful woman agrees and when she gives birth, she cannot find it in her heart to love her bald child. And so, the witch takes her, names her Rapunzel and loves and raises her with all the love she has to give. It isn't until nearer to the end of the story when we meet the character traditionally known as Rapunzel, locked in the tower with beautiful golden hair and the combining of these two lives is magical.

So there you have it. The books in the series that, as of right now, I claim as my favorites. There were many more I could have listed, many more I could have shared short snippets of why I loved them, but I don't want to overwhelm you, and it's not much of a favorites list if I include every title! I did include a list of books below that were almost, but not quite favorite enough to be included on this list. Have you read any of the Once Upon a Time series? Which books are your favorites?

Honorable mentions: Midnight Pearls (The Little Mermaid); Winter's Child (The Snow Queen); The World Above (Jack and the Beanstalk); The Storyteller's Daughter (The Arabian Nights tales); and Wild Orchid (Mulan)

The Once Upon a Time series is a series of books written by several authors published by Simon Pulse. There are currently 19 books published in the series, written by five different authors. The most prolific of these two writers are Cameron Dokey and Suzanne Weyn with nine and four books, respectively. There are also books in the series by Debbie Viguié with three titles, Nancy Holder with two, and Tracy Lynn with one.

I saw these books popping up on Goodreads a few years ago, and was immediately interested because, well, duh! The series is called Once Upon a Time, and it is a series of nothing but retold fairy tales. The fairy tales retold by these five authors cover a wide variety of fairy tales, from Sleeping Beauty (Beauty Sleep) to The White Bride and the Black Bride (The Rose Bride) as well as including a few legends such as Mulan (Wild Orchid) and Anastasia (The Diamond Secret) and there's even a retelling of an opera, The Magic Flute (Sunlight and Shadow) . I've read them all. And, as a general rule I've really enjoyed them.

Almost all of these 18 stories takes a fairy tale, generally one that is very well known, and retell it with a very unique, very original spin that makes the tale completely new. In The World Above (Jack and the Beanstalk), Jack has a sister. In Golden (Rapunzel) Rapunzel is bald. The Crimson Thread (Rumpelstiltskin) is set during the Industrial Revolution in America and the main characters are Irish immigrants, while Water Song (The Frog Prince) is set during WWI, with our frog a wounded American soldier overseas. Snow (Snow White) is a sci-fi tale with the evil queen using scientific experiments to try and freeze her youth and beauty. The Night Dance (The Twelve Dancing Princesses) combines the well known fairy tale with Arthurian Legends while Spirited (Beauty and the Beast) gives us a white 'beauty' captured by American Indians, who begins to fall for the tribe's Shaman despite the cultural barriers.

I will admit that these books are not the most complex stories to read. They are all fairly small, most likely averaging between 200-250 pages per book and they writing moves quickly. My favorite things about this series is that with the exception of only two novels (The Diamond Secret (Anastasia) which reads like a novelized version of the 'Fox' animation minus the glowing green demons and Belle (Beauty and the Beast) which is a simplified and lesser copy of Robin McKinley's Beauty) each of these stories brings something completely new to the tale they are trying to retell. The authors have made the story their own, and there is magic in this. Magic in this ability to craft a completely new story from one that has been told since there have been people to tell it.

That is why I continue to read this series. Because these five authors have managed to tell me a story I've never heard before.It doesn't matter that the books are not perfect, that there are times when the plot could use more detail, or the characters more growth. It doesn't matter than there are times when it's hard to believe a character got from one place to another. But the telling of the story is so new, so unique, so wonderful that I forgive them. I forgive them and continue to read them so that they will continue to tell me these new stories to delight and entertain me.

And you know what? I love them.

Full list of the Once Upon a Time novels:
Cameron Dokey's titles: Before Midnight (Cinderella); The Storyteller's Daughter (The Arabian Nights); Sunlight and Shadow (The Magic Flute); Golden (Rapunzel); The World Above (Jack and the Beanstalk); The Wild Orchid (The Ballad of Mulan); Winter's Child (The Snow Queen) Belle (Beauty and the Beast); Beauty Sleep (Sleeping Beauty).
Suzanne Weyn's titles: The Crimson Thread (Rumpelstiltskin); The Night Dance (Twelve Dancing Princesses); The Diamond Secret (Anastasia); Water Song (The Frog Prince);.
Debbie Viguié's titles: Scarlet Moon (Little Red Riding Hood); Violet Eyes (The Princxess and the Pea); Midnight Pearls (The Little Mermaid).
Nancy Holder's titles: Spirited (Beauty and the Beast); The Rose Bride (The White Bride and the Black Bride).
Tracy Lynn's title: Snow (Snow White).

This review isn't about a book I read recently. It's about a book I read back in 2009, that I didn't really like all that much. I reviewed it on Goodreads and I came across it again as I was browsing through my book lists. It made me laugh so hard I decided to post it on the blog for all of you to read, and probably laugh at too. (posted exactly as taken from GR)

The Last Grail Keeper by Pamela Smith Hill

I am deciding between 2 and 3 stars right now, wishing, once again that GR offered a half star system. This book was definitely not a favorite. I felt that the writing style was weak, and juvenille. It was written in first person from the perspective of a young girl. I feel that because of this, the author felt the need to make every other thought Super exciting! And Wow! and Can you believe it! and Oh goodness! There were at least three exclamation points on half a page. Wow!

I also felt that the story itself was weak. In a fantasy story, there needs to be a suspension of disbelief for the story to function properly that just wasn't there for me. Always with the swirling purple dragon shapes, and the time sparkles. Magic and visions stop being interesting after the 8th time in 15 pages they are refered to. (I didn't count, but it mentioned them constantly).
Then, the bad guys. I'm sorry, but what evil, hard core, time-changing, future destroying, MAGICAL bad guy is going to let the little girl he is trying to destroy pick his pocket to retrieve her magical necklace because he is too distracted on the telephone?! I mean, really. Come on!

There were too many things in this story that I found hard to believe, and the character development was weak throughout the whole story. The only explaination for the evil witch fairy Morgan Le Fay (that anyone who has ever heard any Aurthurian Legends KNOWS is EVIL) for really being one of the best good guys is that — all the women of Camelot wear two faces. That's it. I thought the story could have had potential, but was very disappointed in just about every aspect of the story.

No story line was fully developed, all of the characters were depressingly one-dimensional, and there was nothing in the story that convinced me I should beleive what was happening. It felt contrived and slapped together, and I was very disappointed. I haven't been this bored reading a book in a long time.

Writing this review, I just talked myself out of another star. I still think 2.5 would be the best rating, but right now feel that 2 comes closer to what I feel than 3.