Language and Emotion
Review: Overmorrow by Lancelot Schaubert
So, where do I start with this book? It's well written, the prose is beautiful, but it comes over to me as trying a wee bit too hard to be Gaiman...and without understanding that The Ocean At the End of the Lane was never written for actual children.
Especially given the situation with Gaiman, I think I wanted Schaubert to move a bit more away from Gaiman-style fabulism and also...there's nonsense and Nonsense, and this book struggles to earn that important capital N.
It is also a book about New York and very much a love note to the city. But I would hesitate before giving it to the average teenager...and based on the fact that the protagonist is twelve...is this book actually YA or just being advertised as such?
More problematic is that fact that Levi is the protagonist's younger brother, but acts like a 16 year old throughout. The addiction theme is strong, but instead of landing at Turkish Delight, it misses and lands at Just Say No.
So, as you've probably gathered, I didn't like this book. That doesn't mean you won't, but I would definitely read it before giving it to your kid to make sure that they're ready for the complex prose and twisting vocabulary.
Because to me, a grown adult, it doesn't make enough sense to be a good read...but YMMV.
Review: Ghost of Nostalgia by Joanne Hatfield
This book contains my least favorite romance trope...the one where the protagonist falls in love with her jailer/prisoner escort/kidnapper.
I actually have to forgive it, because the worldbuilding here is so tasty and delicious. Gavril is growing up in the fading village of Nostalgie, protected by a barrier against the Phases and the Dampened...people who have lost the ability to feel emotions.
Not that Gavril is doing great in that regard, and when she's caught talking to a Phase (which shouldn't even happen) she ends up being transported to be tried for heresy. She's also forcibly engaged to the son of the mayor of the next town.
All with the goal of getting a new solenoid for Nostalgie. There's a steampunk feel here with airships, but I wouldn't call it steampunk.
It's really about feelings, including love, and about sacrifice, and the world, of course, turns out to be way darker than you think.
I can live with the bad romance.
Recommended.