Cover Lust (34)

It's been a while since I've done a Cover Lust post! Mainly because a lot of covers I've been encountering have inspired in me the opposite of lustful feelings. (But that is another post for another day...) At long last, however, I have found several covers that I quite like.

Let The Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger

(Simon Pulse / March 2013)

You can kind of get a Mara Dyer cover vibe from this one. There's something about the combination of that eerie storm-orange tone and the centered alignment of the words and people that draws my eye to it. What do you guys think?

Son by Lois Lowry

(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / Oct. 2, 2012)

Simple in terms of color scheme, but oh, the texture!

Eve and Adam by Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant

(Feiwel & Friends / Oct. 2, 2012)

I'm finding it hard to explain why I like this one. Maybe it's their way of "modernizing"/"computerizing" the symbolic apple. Maybe it's the almost painful color saturation. There's just something about it that makes me nod approvingly. ('Course, 10 to 1 says the publisher will change the cover for the paperback, as this one is so different from what else is out there. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.)

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

(Little, Brown / Feb. 1, 2012)

Wow, paper cutouts (or at least the impression of that style)... it makes me feel all tingly inside.

Black City by Elizabeth Richards

(G. P. Putnam's Sons / Nov. 13, 2012)

Again, I'm undecided as to whether or not I really like it, but I appreciate all the attentiveness that must have gone into arranging for that rose to shatter into all those pieces. I think the color scheme and the simple but bold fond choice and placement are alluring as well.

Ironskin by Tina Connolly

(Tor Books / Oct. 2, 2012)

I swear, my heart skipped a beat when I laid eyes upon this cover. Oh my wordless. Oh my. Oh my. Oh my. There's nothing about this cover that I do not drool over. That awesome silvery dress. The swirly smoke. The gloomy background. Even the color of the simply-fonted title, complementing the rest of the cover yet standing out at the same time. It gets even better when you know what the book is about... which is why I highly encourage you to click the Goodreads link and go find out more about it.
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Which of these is your favorite? What covers have you seen recently that you like a lot?

Review: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Tags: dystopian

Summary

Kathy reflects on growing up in Hailsham alongside her friends Ruth and Tommy.

Review

NEVER LET ME GO is like a—for lack of a better way to put it—grown-up version of a YA novel. The elements of a YA are all there: the occasionally angsty musings of an adolescent girl; the complex and manipulative best friend; a boarding school with a dystopian feel (two in one!). As Kathy narrates the story, the writing is fitting for the voice of a woman—not overly smart but not dumb either—reflecting on her adolescent years.

But it is the way that NEVER LETS ME GO treats its premise that marks it as not YA. If this were a YA novel (which it very well easily could’ve been, had Kazuo Ishiguro chosen to go that route), there would most likely have been a dramatic ending in which good triumphs over the Ambiguously Bad and they all live happily ever after. I kind of like that this book didn’t do that. Instead, it follows the gradual but inevitable path of characters whose destinies were laid out for them since before they were born.

Ishiguro uses a strategy that I will call “suspenseful foreshadowing” quite liberally, stringing anecdotes along one after another so that you will feel like you can barely stop for breath, something is always about to happen, about to happen. Not a bad strategy, and I like that it seems to reflect more on Kathy’s writing abilities than Ishiguro’s (and it’s a talented writer who can do that).

NEVER LET ME GO is a subtly brilliant and disturbing novel that would be greatly appreciated by readers who like their books a little more thought-provoking, a little less rose-colored or deus ex machina-ridden.

Vintage / March 14, 2006 / Paperback (reprint) / 288pp. / $15.00

Personal copy.

Waiting on Wednesday (121)

Stormdancer (The Lotus War, Book 1) by Jay Kristoff

A DYING LAND
The Shima Imperium is verging on the brink of environmental collapse; decimated by clockwork industrialization and the machine-worshippers of the Lotus Guild. The skies are red as blood, land choked with toxic pollution, wildlife ravaged by mass extinctions.

AN IMPOSSIBLE QUEST
The hunters of the imperial court are charged by their Shōgun to capture a thunder tiger—a legendary beast, half-eagle, half-tiger. But any fool knows thunder tigers have been extinct for more than a century, and the price of failing the Shōgun is death.

A SIXTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL
Yukiko is a child of the Fox clan, possessed of a hidden gift that would see her executed by the Lotus Guild. Accompanying her father on the Shōgun’s hunt, she finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in Shima’s last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled thunder tiger for company. Even though she can hear his thoughts, even though she saved his life, all she knows for certain is he’d rather see her dead than help her.

But together, the pair will form an indomitable friendship, and rise to challenge the might of an empire. [summary from Goodreads]

So I guess that this has been going around the blogosphere, from which I have been inexcusably absent (in terms of paying attention). When I finally saw it during my 10-something hours a day on Goodreads, I was... intrigued. Intrigued, but wary. After all, no matter how COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY BADASS that cover is (POC! POC! POC!), not to mention that synopsis, I have been led astray by pretty covers and cool-sounding synopses more times than I can count.

However...

--but first, a close-up of the astounding cover (which is actually relevant to my upcoming point):

Jason Chan, I worship you. Please draw the whole world, thanks in advance.

Wuh...wahh... *wipes drool from face* What was I saying? Oh yeah. Whose blurb is that I see in the upper-left corner? Why, only PATRICK MUTHAFUGGIN ROTHFUSS. (I try not to completely curse on this blog.) He's the one who wrote the epic The Name of the Wind, which I reviewed earlier this month and basically invited into bed with me.

I take my author blurbs and author recs seriously now.

So yeah. This book. Major wanting from Steph.

Stormdancer will be released in hardcover from Thomas Dunne Books on September 18, 2012.

Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Blood of Eden, Book 1

Tags: YA, paranormal, dystopian, vampires

Summary

Allison Sekemoto survives as a fierce, unregistered scavenger in a world where master vampires have laid claim over entire cities and keep the humans in line with scheduled blood-letting. However, tragedy strikes, and Allie is forced to become the monster she has always hated. Her creator, Kanin, is a vampire with a dark, mysterious past and many secrets, the biggest one of which drives Allie out of the city, to survive outside on her own.

Allie meets up with a group of humans on their way to find the rumored Eden, an island city untainted by vampires, where humans live as they did before. But Allie can never fully belong among the humans, no matter how nice Zeke is to her. Society will force her to always remember who she is now, and the situation will arise when she needs to acknowledge just how much of her is human…and how much is vampire.

Review

Despite the oversaturation of the market with vampire stories, I’m still constantly on the lookout for something fresh. Julie Kagawa brings a refreshing grittiness to vampires in her new paranormal-dystopian series, starting with THE IMMORTAL RULES, which, while far from perfect, is still an enjoyable read for the forgiving, vampire-crazy reader type.

I like that Kagawa’s vampires don’t glitter. They don’t try desperately to mimic humanity for the sake of a romantic story. They are manipulative and volatile and scary as all hell—and thus, when the uncommon vampire displays some semblance of human emotion or empathy, you know it’s because of the character, not just for the sake of a story.

THE IMMORTAL RULES is also written in a controlled yet smooth-flowing manner, keeping a tight rein on potentially overdramatic situations, and yet moving the story along from event to event, dialogue to dialogue, in a natural-feeling way. It was nearly effortless—at least for me—to become immersed in the story. It’s not fast-paced, per se (to be quite honest, I have no idea how this book managed to run longer than 400 pages; that number of pages was probably not all necessary but it didn’t deter from my reading experience either), but it is easy to read.

I was quite keen on the first part, where Allie learns about being a vampire and begins to see her city in a different light, but where THE IMMORTAL RULES stumbled for me began when Allie met the humans. There is no nice way to say this, because the human characters in this book are such clichés. There’s a mean girl whose hatred of Allie is unfounded—no, really, I’m not even being overly subjective here, the girl heard that Allie came from a city and was all like, “You beeyotch”…uh, wut?—whose main purpose for being in the story seemed to be to make readers even more sympathetic to Allie’s difficult situation…but if you liked her enough in the first part of the book, then you already are sympathetic to her. There’s a preacher-esque leader who speaks in the “destiny-speak” of adults who think they know everything. Even Zeke, as a love interest, was bland in his perfection: the guy is nice to everyone, likes Allie even though she’s sullen and secretive, and—this is my favorite—engages in very lame banter with his male BFF. I’m telling you, the humans come straight out of a CW beach town drama. I found myself groaning and wishing we were back in Allie’s old city (with Kanin, he of the badassery and no-nonsense nature).

I’m not sure how there came to be such a disjuncture between the effortless grittiness of the first part of the book and the forced camaraderie/backstabbing/bravado of the rest. The villain talks like a done-thrice-over villain from a 1940s comic. Science gets pushed to the wayside for the sake of good triumphing over evil (the wet gun, the wet gun!). My best guess is that Kagawa had a great setting and the ideas for sequels and didn’t allow her characters to get from Point A to Point B without a whole lot of interference in characterization from her.

Despite my frustrations with this novel, I would still be interested in reading the sequel (but there better be fewer stupid humans), because I found Allie sympathetic and the vampire-human tension interesting. THE IMMORTAL RULES won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but those who enjoy True Blood over The Vampire Diaries or Twilight might consider giving this one a try.

Similar Authors
Stephenie Meyer
Cynthia Hand
Michelle Hodkin

Cover discussion: Oh my g--MY EYESSSS. THEY BURNNNN. WHAT IS THIS CRAP. First of all, if that's supposed to be a tear, it's in the wrong location. Tears are produced in the inside corner of one's eye. They don't just leak out from wherever the hell you feel like it. Secondly, ALLIE IS VERY CLEARLY ASIAN IN THE BOOK. This girl's only Asian if you have yellow fever and are stoned out of your mind. Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a strong contender for the Worst YA Cover of 2012.

Harlequin Teen / April 24, 2012 / Hardcover / 512pp. / $18.99

e-galley received for review through publisher and NetGalley.