Magisterium by Jeff Hirsch

Published: October 1st 2012
Publisher:Scholastic Press
Website: Author's Website

*Mild Spoilers, mostly for comic relief!

Introduction

Glenn is different. She’s so smart she has the paperwork to skip a grade and go directly to a prestigious institution that will train her to travel to planet 813 and help colonize it. Instead of bonding with her peers, she looks at star maps on her tablet. Or she takes care of her father, a wraith of a man, who is obsessed with building some kind of machine. He is this way because their mother walked out on them 10 years ago. This is linked to a boarder around their land, the Colloquium, dividing it from a wasteland called the Rift. As it turns out, many people believe that there is more to this wasteland than the government is telling them. Glenn’s father’s project propels Glenn, and her conspiracy theory enthusiast friend named Kevin, into a land that shouldn’t exist.

See that introduction? Save yourself 310 pages and fill in the gaps. Whatever you imagine, it will probably be more interesting and convincing than what Hirsch wrote.

Well, ok, I’ll go into more detail about this book, if you insist.

Plot

For a book that is 310 pages, not a lot happens. It is like The Lord of The Rings-there is a lot of walking, a lot of talking, and a lot of empty space. A lot of me wondering how long it will take me to finish this so I can get on to Sever.

Like Velveteen the blurb doesn’t adequately describe what is actually in the book. The blurb on the dust jacket does not describe the magic world they go to. I’m not much for magical themes in books (with a few exceptions, of course), and the blurb hints at the possibility, but I argue that it doesn’t adequately describe the complete transportation to a world that is similar (to put it in simple terms) to The Lord of the Rings world of swords and sorcery.

From the dust jacket of the edition that I have, it sounds like a government is being evil (of course!) and two teens are doing…stuff to fight the government. Yay.  

But it’s not like that. Anyway, moving on…

Without giving too much away, the author gives us some of the stupidest justifications for doing whatever she decides that I have ever read.

It would have been far more interesting if Glenn fought the stigma of having a mentally ill-but genius-father, and got to go to planet 813 with her cat Hopkins.

Action Scenes

There’s some action. Lots of people get shot. By the end of the book there are so many injuries I just didn’t care, and the characters stopped reacting appropriately to what is being done to them. That irks me to no end. In the beginning, someone is shot, they almost die, and they are encumbered by this injury for a long time. Good, good, all clear here. Then people are thrown about, ribs broken, almost drowned, bashed, shot with arrows, shot with poisonous darts, etc. What happens? Everybody just brushes it off like a boss. EXCEPT they are not a boss, or bosses. These are people who just stopped feeling pain…because. Because the author wanted action scenes but not the after effects of injuries. Hasn’t he ever watched Dragon Ball Z? Goku goes to the hospital because you know what hurts? Fighting.  

Good Guys VS Bad Guys

            This story is about politics, not good and evil. I hate it when books try to make you feel like everything is so clean cut. It’s my problem with Final Fantasy XII-it’s all politics, but just because one side is an advanced empire, you’re supposed to hate them. No, that’s not how reality works. Just because one side has technology and guns, and one side has less advanced technology and magic, does not automatically make the technology and guns people bad.

             Not that this book can make the reader decide who the bad guys are. For a long time I felt like I was just supposed to hate everyone. And boy, do I hate everyone.

Glenn

            I’m so smart. But I’m a little sad. Because I’m sad I’m going to take my cat and go to a distant planet so I don’t have to deal with anyone ever again.

            Oh, hey, magic. I mean, no. I like science. Magic can’t be real. Let’s not accept this fact until a little more than halfway through the book. I still think we can go back to the empire Colloquium after we destroy the one ring the bracelet in the fire of Mount Doom a blacksmithing town.   

Kevin

            I am a boy. I like Glenn because. I hate the government because of conspiracy theories I read on the internet.

            I am a boy.

Aamon

            I AM TOTALLY NOT A CAT.

            Meow.

Cover

            There’s something positive: I like the cover. Bravo *claps hands.

Verdict

Perhaps it is a problem that I refuse to put down a book without finishing it. I am usually not a fan of magic themes, especially those set in medieval-ish times (I know it isn’t the case, but the Rift is devoid of technology). The blurb sold me to give it a read. I wanted to like it. The beginning had me intrigued. Going to planet 813 sounded awesome. Even the possibilities of the Rift were exciting. After that, I died inside, slowly, in agonizing pain. Overall, it was a disappointment for me. I wouldn’t recommend it to a teen reader because there are MUCH better fantasy books out there. I wouldn’t recommend it for a book club pick because of the length and the slow plot-I’m afraid that no one would finish it. I’m glad that I ordered it from my library in November of 2012 and I got it in July 2013 (sarcasm). Considering how long I waited for it, and how much I despised most of it, I am thoroughly disappointed.

Book Lovers' Day Aug 9!

Graphic from http://ghergich.com/

Tomorrow is Book Lovers' Day! If you've been too busy lately from the rush that has become our daily lives, take some time to relax with a book. Whether it is YA, or a mystery, thriller, romance, MG, non-fiction, whatever you want. Leave this world and expand your mind for a moment tomorrow and show your love for the written word.

This graphic is from Ghergich & Co. Nifty, isn't it? Someday I want a book shelf that is big enough to warrant a ladder.

Teaser Tuesdays #1

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This is my first foray into this meme, so here goes, I am giving you two teasers from page 60 of Sever by Lauren DeStefano:

 Prepared to be teased...!

#1 "You didn't contact sepsis from this place, did you?"

And...

#2 He wants the jars that have caught the morning light; I think he believes they hold little pieces of the sun.

Seven Deadly Sins Tag

GREED --What is your most expensive book? What is your least expensive book?

~Inexpensive: Need by Carrie Jones-$4.99. I feel awful because I got it at Walmart, and I now know that when books end up there, the author's don't really see the royalty money. This book is one of my favourite books ever *drools.

~Expensive: Strictly for YA books, I usually get the hardcovers because I want to read them the day they come out. Most YA hardcover books are around $19-$30 anyway. When I was about 14 I was really into The Wind on Fire Trilogy. The last of the series, Firesong came out, and my grand mother spent nearly $50 on it when it first came out "in exchange for chores". Funny, because I'm looking at it now and all it says for price is £10.99 for a hardcover.  

WRATH--What author do you have a love/hate relationship with?

~Amanda Hocking. The Watersong series is so...hit and miss with me. Her other books just don't interest me at all. But I like mermaids, so...you know.

GLUTTONY--What book have you deliciously devoured over and over with no shame whatsoever?

~Need by Carrie Jones and The Golden Compass Philip Pullman. Pullman's work has honestly changed who I am as a reader, writer, and how I view the world.

SLOTH--What book have you neglected reading due to laziness?

~The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff. (Plus everything else that is sitting on my shelf because I am a terrible person.)

PRIDE--What book do you most talk about in order to sound like a very intellectual reader?

~ The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. BECAUSE DID YOU GET THE RELIGIOUS IMAGERY AND UNDERTONES?! DID YOU!?

LUST--What attributes do you find most attractive in male or female characters?

~Male: When they are more than white knights who save the day.
~Female: When they are more than their gender (pro tip: being a girl IS NOT a character trait).

ENVY--What books would you most like to receive as a gift?

~The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. I only read the series once and I'd like to read the last two again. It's another one of those books where I want to scream about the literary importance of them.

Now copy and paste and answer, or make up your own questions! :D 

Fever by Lauren DeStefano

The Chemical Garden Reviews
Wither, Fever, and Sever

Published: February 21 2012
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
Website: Author’s Website 
Author's Youtube

*Fair Warning: I try to keep this as spoiler free as possible but it is difficult!

Introduction

Gabrielle and Rhine have escaped the gilded cage mansion and have washed ashore. They are promptly hit with the realization that they are in their cruel dystopian world that is unkind to people without a home. This installment is about them trying to make it back home to Manhattan, to Rhine’s brother, Rowan. They pick up another character, a girl without security in the world concerned with perfecting and correcting genes. Together they travel to Rhine’s former home, until the fever hits. What is it?   

The Scarlet Carnival

The first place to take advantage of them is Madame’s cruel carnival-a scarlet district prostitution ring. The girls are haggard with teeth rotten and wearing dirty exotic dresses. Madame takes a liking to Rhine and she falls into a dilemma: Vaughan cannot find her in the circus, but she is being used by a woman who is a predator in the business of selling pretty flesh until it is ruined.

Sound intriguing? I was bored. Like the first book, Wither, the circus is a confined space with a set domestic space and rules, like the mansion. I was craving for them to just LEAVE and explore and have more agency. I am supposed to be creeped out by the way Madame collects girls to sell their flesh until they die. In reality, this happens in real life. It is scary, though it is nothing new. 

Perhaps I am what you consider well-read, but I get the whole sexual enslavement issue. The whole scenario about how she’s there but not as a full prostitute made me stick out my tongue and go “PFFFT.” Yeah, right. As if she’d be kept there without having the dirty experience. It’s just because DeStefano wanted to give us the nitty-gritty inside of the sexual enslavement of the world AND keep her character extremely pure. This world doesn’t keep anyone pure, by the way, so this whole virginal main character concept is ridiculously unbelievable. If you read Oryx and Crake or The Year of the Flood , both by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, you’ll get a more realistic sense of what happens to women in a dystopian society that is driven by gratification.     

Ermahgerd guys, prostitution!  

Characters

I found this installment lacked the vibrant and complete cast of characters that its predecessor has. There are a lot of fleeting characters because the duo are on the move. There’s Lilac, the intelligent and beautiful prostitute, and her daughter, Maddie, a “malformed” child who does not speak. Madame, the ring-master of the carnival of tattered silk prostitutes.  The rest of the characters, to me, are replicas in different areas that serve the same roles. Ally, enemy, abuser. I understand that it is difficult to give depth to characters when you don’t spend much time with them because the characters are going elsewhere.

Cover

I like this cover as a cover much better Wither’s cover. The model still has the ring, she holds the card (part of a lame attempt at dramatic symbolism by the author), and she looks unwell. The title is Fever, and (surprise) everybody at some point feels unwell, but the model looks…not attractively unwell. You might say, well, duh, she’s supposed to be sick. But when you’re talking about modeling something artistically, there are ways to convey the idea right…and better. This girl looks…bored (oh hey it’s me when I was reading the circus passages!), or like she’s high, or like (as pointed out on Goodreads) she has some bodily functions to take care of. I think it would have been more effective to make her pale or flushed, sweaty, and give her dishevelled hair. In the first book, the rat’s nest was uncalled for. Here, it’s alright because she’s ill and has nowhere to go and no brush to untangle her hair.

Story Progression

The story of Fever is both linear and knotted. They are en route to Rowan. They get stuck in the carnival. The go on their way, towards Rowan. Little blips happen, and they get untangled and keep going towards their destination. It is not until the end when “stuff” happens and the linear, planned plot goes away. I like the ending much more than the whole first half of the book. It was hard to care too much when everything is so planned. Yes, “stuff” happens and it is interesting. Yet I found myself craving for when they are forced into something more unexpected. I wanted desperately for the plan to unravel and throw something at me that would make me squirm to read and turn the page. It does happen, but not until later. When it happened, putting the book down was impossible.     

Writing

Even when the plot isn’t terribly engaging…the writing is always well-crafted. Now, what does that mean?

The writing brings the world into reality: eerily dystopian and disgustingly beautiful.

Everything seems right in her writing this time. I wish I can one day write something that conveys the world to be so multifaceted like DeStefano does. There’s mansions, malls, pretty dresses, slavery, forced marriage, candy, kidnapping, family, prostitution, murders, sister wives, drugs, love…all these textures are weaved in the pages of the book. 

Next Book: Sever

Yes please! I am reading Magisterium by Jeff Hirsch (I ordered it in November from my library and it came in on July 30!) and then it’s off to finish The Chemical Garden Trilogy with Sever! I can’t wait! This trilogy is honestly the hottest thing on my mind (book-wise) and in my mind, the highest anticipated book in a series that I have encountered in a while.

Verdict

            An excellent sequel to the first book. It doesn’t quite deliver on the expectations that you might hope for from the first book. Instead of an adventure it is more like a boring road trip where you keep asking “Are we there yet?”. This book also lacks profound moments because the author places her character in a world of prostitution and squeezes her into an unrealistic role of purity there. Fever is excellently written, though the book doesn’t take us very far story wise. There is advancement between Gabrielle and Rhine, and some more characters that won’t mention to spoil it. The first half was dead-boring to me, but the last 50 or so pages keep me reading and excited for the next book.   

What I'm Reading...

When I'm my breaks at work, I'm reading these:

I'm really excited to finish the Chemical Garden Trilogy (Sever and Fever) because I LOVED Wither. Lullaby didn't blow me away (read my review here) but I want to fall in love with the series again with Tidal.* Rosebush I picked up on a whim from the title (though I hate the camera angle above the girl), cover, and blurb.

These are all from my city's library. The good thing about being in the city is getting services from a library that isn't completely disconnected from reality (yes, a rant for another time).

*I'm an idiot who picked up Lullaby thinking it was the third in the series, Tidal. I honestly can't say how it happened. Some days, I don't know how I function...