Spoof-y

Daniel O'Malley's debut novel, The Rook, took me by surprise. I wasn't expecting to like it that much, considering that I'm not really into the fantasy-action-supernatural genre. This was an impulse purchase. Normally, I Google the books that I've been meaning to buy, checking out what other people say about them. However, The Rook floored me. I was extremely entertained by it.

O'Malley, in the opening chapter of the novel, presents us his heroine, one Myfanwy Thomas. (The w is silent and the f hard, rhyming with Tiffany.) Myfanwy awakes with no recollection of her own self and with dead bodies in latex gloves lying around her. The opening statement is enough to arrest you:

Dear You,

The body you are wearing used to be mine. [page 1]

It turns out that Myfanwy's former self was anticipating this memory loss and has decided to write letters to her new self to explain what she is and what she does for a living. Through these letters she discovers that her official title is Rook Thomas and that she's part of an ultra-secret organization called the Checquy Group, which is made up of retainers, pawns, and the Court. The Checquy apprently handles troublesome supernatural cases. She also learns that she has powers to control the people around her, and that her touch can be fatal if she wills it. Nevertheless, the new Mywanwy is peeved to find out that, despite these powers, her old self was a meek persona who was more comfortable dealing the Court's administrative functions instead of doing 'field work'.

The concept of the Court is particularly intriguing, as it is rooted in the game of chess. We have pawns who do the dirty work under the supervision of the Court. The Court itself is made of 8 individuals with supernatural abilities: 2 rooks, 2 chevaliers, 2 bishops, 1 lady, and 1 lord. Reading each of the characters that make up the Court is a delight. Rook Thomas's counterpart, Gestalt, is 1 individual that commands 4 bodies. One bishop is a vampire. And the Court's very regal lady can enter your dreams.

As I was reading The Rook, I realized that it reminded me of many pop cultural references. The varied abilities of the Court alludes to the X-Men. The school were students are trained call to mind Professor Xavier's School or, at the very least, Harry Potter's Hogwarts. The cases that Rook Thomas gets involved in, with the many instances of slime and ectoplasm appearances, is like The Ghostbusters. Add to that the bureaucracy and the efficiency of the organization, and you also get James Bond or Mission Impossible. The apparent 'spoofiness' of the novel never goes overboard. It's a fun read, I tell you.

So back to Rook Thomas. It appears that the Court has been infiltrated and that the former Rook Thomas has unearthed it. It is this mystery, this unravelling of the conspiracy if you will, that propels the story. It's a wonder to read the various letters that the old Mywanwy wrote for her new self, which are interspersed into the main storyline. O'Malley's novel is also very funny. If you like wry British humor, you'll be hooked with The Rook.

I was initially turned off by the book's length. (The hardback is close to 500 pages!) But The Rook's taxi-meter pace works to the reader's advantage. It's hard to put down a novel when each chapter has an action scene involving a flesh-eating blob, a hatching of a dragon gone wrong, a house overran by a religious cult which is in turn overran by ectoplasm, among other things. Oh, the wonders never cease.

A caveat: The Rook might just be the first in a trilogy or a series. While the main story does come to a close, it isn't as clean and complete as some people would have it. It seems O'Malley has set the stage for the next novel. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it would be as enjoyable as his first.

Read this book if:

1. You know that there just might really be an organization that protects us from supernatural creatures.
2. You can suspend your disbelief for extremely outrageous stuff.
3. You like chess.
   

I was simply blown away

And so one day I found myself in a bookstore wanting to buy a quick read. In times like these, I naturally gravitate toward the young adult section, which, in my own experience, can have very short but satisfying novels. I bought the first book of Darren Shan's The Demonata series, Lord Loss, since I liked his more well-known Cirque du Freak. I started to read it in the car going home and I couldn't believe that I've read more than 50 pages during the entire commute! Yes, it's that good.

The Demonata Book 1: Lord Loss is definitely scarier and more plot driven than Cirque du Freak. I guess this has something to do with The Demonata series aiming for a more mature readership. I couldn't help but compare The Demonata from Cirque du Freak; CDF can be a bit quirky, whereas The Demonata is just terrifying throughout. I think adults can also get a kick out of reading this series as it puts most horror novels to shame. In a way, Lord Loss calls to mind Stephen King's monsters lurking in small towns and Clive Barker's gross-out brand of horror involving demons straight out of hell.

In Lord Loss, we meet Grubbs Grady, a teenager who has witnessed his parents and his older sister killed by the demon Lord Loss and his familiars, Artery and Vein. He finds himself traumatized by the incident and is confined in a mental institution. One day, he gets a visit from his uncle, Dervish, who takes Grubbs to his home and becomes his guardian. Uncle Dervish eventually explains to Grubbs how Lord Loss is forever tied to the Grady family because of the family's curse. Only Lord Loss can reverse the family curse by beating him in a game of 5 simultaneous chess games and then by a duel in the demon world. When one of Grady's apparent cousin shows signs of having this curse, it becomes up to Uncle Dervish and Grubbs to summon Lord Loss and attempt to beat him once again.

The blurb at the front cover says that Lord Loss is guaranteed to gross out anyone. Well, I wasn't, probably because I've been exposed to this genre for the longest time that it would take something really spectacular to gross me out. (I think I've been desensitized.) Still, I think a lot of readers would find Lord Loss spine-chilling and terrifying. It will certainly please fans out there who are dying to get their horror fix.

I'm currently restraining myself from dashing out of the house and getting book 2, The Demon Thief. I just hope I can find a copy, since I haven't seen books 1 to 3 in bookstores for the longest time. (It was very surprising to find a single, slightly yellowing copy of Lord Loss the other day.) I couldn't care less -- as they say, the thrill is in the hunt.

Read this book if:

1. You think that demons are real.
2. You're big on horror serials.
3. You love chess.

Beautiful disaster

Ill-fated star-crossed lovers have always been fascinating themes in novels, plays, and poems. We've all seen it -- from families at war; vampires, werewolves, and humans; aliens and humans. But what about witches and humans? That's what Beautiful Creatures is all about. Beautiful Creatures is a debut young adult novel by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, both of whom have been fascinated by supernatural elements in fiction and have longed to write a novel that is set in the South.

One can describe Beautiful Creatures as a Southern Gothic novel, as it is set in a small Southern town called Gatlin and it has the trademark Gothic elements: forbidden love, dark family secrets, creepy ancestral houses, just to name a few. In the novel, 16-year-old Ethan Waite falls in love with 15-year-old Lena Duchannes, who has just recently moved to her reclusive uncle's mansion, dubbed as the town's haunted house. The two fall in love against the wishes of their families. You see, Lena harbors a secret; she's a Caster (read: witch), one who'll be claimed either by the Dark or Light on her 16th birthday. Lena reveals this fact to Ethan, saying that Casters don't really have to say whether they they turn Dark or Light when they reach 16. Together, they attempt to find a way for Lena not to turn Dark. But in doing so, they unearth a family secret, one that involves two people from their families several generations ago and who were in a circumstance not unlike what Lena and Ethan are currently facing.

Frankly, I was prepared to toss the book in one corner after around 50 pages since I found the story too dragging, the narrative too slow, for my liking. Of course, I should've expected this pace from the novel since, after all, it is a Gothic novel. I do, however, have my doubts whether young adults have the patience to go through the novel's 550 pages if it isn't engaging at all. But thank goodness I persevered, for the novel somewhat picks up after 100 pages or so. When I reached the novel's second half, I could hardly put it down.

One of the reasons that I found the novel engaging is the set of characters that Garcia and Stohl came up with. Casters also have their special powers. To name a few: Sirens, who can persuade people to do stuff; Naturals, who can control the weather; Palimpsests, who can see different points in time; Shifters, who can change different objects into something else. The authors even throw in some supernatural characters as well such as Incubi and clairvoyants. But my favorite character would have to be the librarian, who runs both the town library and the library of the supernatural world.

Beautiful Creatures was a very surprising read. I've thought that the love angle would somehow seem similar to other supernatural romances in the YA genre. Both the characters of Lena and Ethan are refreshing; they act as any teenager would given the circumstances. Ethan is lovable because of his quirkiness and his curiosity. And I found myself empathic to Lena; her fish-out-of-water persona never goes overboard. If you found yourself being an outsider during your high school years, I'm sure you would be able to relate to Lena.

Beautiful Creatures was my last read for 2009. And I couldn't be more pleased to end the year with such a delightful novel. Garcia and Stohl are notable names to watch out for in the crowded genre that is YA supernatural fiction. Thankfully, I know that I'd be reading more from these two, since Beautiful Creatures ended with a not-so-subtle hint of a sequel. I'll be eagerly anticipating that one.

Read this book if:

1. You're fascinated with witches.
2. You felt different from the rest during high school.
3. You've never read a Southern Gothic novel.