Book Review — The House of Salt and Sorrows

 

Title: The House of Salt and Sorrow
Author: Erin A. Craig
Genre: YA Fairy Tale Retelling
Pages: Hardback 400
ISBN: 978-109848-3192-7
Opening Lines: "Candlelight reflected off the silver anchor etched onto my sister's necklace. It was an ugly piece of jewelry and something Eulalie would never have picked out for herself."

Rating

"Annaleigh lives a sheltered life at Highmoor, a manor by the sea, with her sisters and their father and stepmother. Once there were twelve, but the loneliness fills the grand halls now that four of the girls' lives have been cut short. Each death was more tragic than the last—the plague, a plummeting fall, a drowning, a slippery plunge—and there are whispers throughout the surrounding villages that the family is curses by the gods.

"Disturbed by a series of ghostly visions, Annaleigh becomes increasingly suspicious that her sister's deaths were no accidents. The girls have been sneaking out every night to attend glittering balls, dancing until dawn in silk gowns and shimmering slippers, and Annaleigh isn't sure whether to try to stop them or to join their forbidden trysts. Because who—or what—are they really dancing with?

"When Annaleigh's involvement with a mysterious stranger who has secrets of his own intensifies, it's a race to unravel the darkness that has fallen over her family—before it claims her next."

~ Jacket copy

In the small seaside city, a "curse" plagues the house of Thaumas—taking the wife and daughters of a lord by the sea. While all of the deaths seems to either be from natural causes such as disease or tragic accident, both the people in the surrounding villages and those on the mainland question whether the lord and his previous wife suffer from a curse. Did he anger a god? Did he anger his patron god, Pontus? Each remaining girl—while extremely beautiful—becomes ineligible on the marriage market due to the rumors. Damned to become spinsters, the girls discover a mysterious door in the family's crypt, which leads to lands where their curse is unknown. And each night, the girls escape the manor house and dance all night long. However, despite the joy of being beautiful—and anonymous—bachelorettes, Annaleigh starts to question her sisters' deaths. When she starts to see the ghosts of her sisters and strange things happen around the manor, she also questions her sanity. In a small town by the seas, audiences meet the new Twelve Dancing Princesses.

Book Review — Cuckoo Song

Title:  Cuckoo Song Author:  Frances Hardinge Genre:  YA fantasy, horror, historical fiction, mystery Pages:  Hardback, 408 Publisher:  Amulet Books ISBN:  978-1-4197-1480-1 Opening Lines:  "Her head hurt.  There was a sound grating against her mind, a music-less rasp like the rustling of paper"

Rating

"Following a mysterious accident that left her sopping wet, Triss awakens to a world that's eerily off-kilter. Her memories are muddled, her sister despises her, pages have been stolen from her private journal, and her appetite is insatiable. Confusion quickly turns to dread as she begins to see and hear things she shouldn't. Her dolls reveal themselves to be deceitful, living creatures; she's suddenly and inexplicably afraid of scissors; and when she brushes her hair, out sprinkle crumbled fragments of leaves.

"Then she stumbles across evidence that hedr beloved brother, killed in the war, is actually alive—and she begins to suspect that the secrets lurking within her home are even more shocking than her twisted new reality. Is Triss going mad? Or did her accident trigger a nightmarish chain of events? In her quest to learn the truth, Triss ventures from the shelter of her parents' protective wings into the city's underbelly. There she encounters strange creatures whose grand schemes could forever alter the fates of her family."

~ Jacket copy

One of the joys of my current job is the bi-annual book fairs!  On my short lunch breaks, I would take the time to just wander through the displays of books.  Some of them really didn't look appealing.  Others, however, really caught my attention.  This was one such book.  Sometimes YA horror can be awful and painful to read, so I was curious whether this one would be different.  Honestly, the cover also really drew me in.  Imagine my surprise when I saw it sitting on the shelf at the local library several months later!  And thus began my journey with this book.

Hmm, that is truly a hard question to answer.  The jacket copy does an amazing job giving tantalizing details without giving away the huge twist of the book.  At a basic level, it is about a family torn by the death of their son during WWI and how they cope.  However, it is so much more than that!  It centers around Triss—the sick daughter of well-to-do parents—and her struggle with her identity, the strange occurrences after her accident, and her relation with her family (especially her younger sister, Pen).

This book was excellent!  It has all the elements of a fairy tale while using the guise of post-WWI England as it's backdrop: the start of the post-war feminism, the birth of Jazz, and the very real effects of war and loss.  In addition, it also has all of the workings of a Gothic novel: gloomy settings, supernatural creatures, curses, and heroes.    
One of the things that really struck me in this book is the fact that the author didn't pull any punches.  She tackles a lot of major and complex issues.  Not only is she dealing with a family struggling hard to maintain the last vestiges of what they once were after an intense loss, but she dares to even show the socio-economic crisis after the end of the war.  In some ways, while the Jazz clubs seem lively, they are shown as escapism in the very real face of things like hunger.  It is also fascinating that the author uses a lot of the terminology from that time period, locale, and culture.  In addition, spurning the typical YA romance and veiled references to sex in favor of a strong relationship with her little sister was a very surprising and welcome addition to this story.  
It is really hard to fully address everything in this book without giving away Triss' full plight and the mystery surrounding her accident; however, it is definitely worth the read.  Despite the gloomy, war-torn setting, this book is beautiful and full of hope and wonder.  Even though Triss is only 13-years-old, this book has very complex themes, so it does not ostracize adult audiences.  Do not pass this one up!

Book Review — The House of Small Shadows

Looking back, I find that it has been over a year since my fingers lovingly touched the keys on this laptop to pen a new review.  So many things have happened since then, and life has brought me to new and exciting places.  I would love to say that I shall remain faithful to updating this site, but—in all honesty and disclosure—who am I kidding?  The changes have meant that I find myself reading less, while desiring/needing the respite and escape tendered in the pages more than the air I breathe. 
So, dear readers, while I will not give you platitudes of my steadfast endurance to update this regularly, I shall endeavor to try.  
And now, with that gracefully penned (or typed, as the case may be) introduction, the stage is set with another chilling tale of horror.  Since it was left with horror, it seems apropos to start again with the ghastly, grisly, and macabre tale of chilling memory.

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Title:  The House of Small Shadows Author:  Adam Neville Genre:  Horror Pages:  Hardcover, 371 Publisher:  St. Martin's Press ISBN:  978-1-250-04127-2 Opening Lines:  "As if by a dream Catherine came to the Red House.  She abandoned her car once the lane's dusty surface was choked by the hedgerows, and moved on foot through a tunnel of hawthorn and hazel trees to glimpse the steep pitch of the roof, the ruddy brick chimneys and the finials upon its sharp spine."

Rating

"Catherine's last job ended badly. Corporate bullying at a top antiques publication saw her fired and forced to leave London, but she was determined to get her life back. A new job and a few therapists later, things look much brighter. Especially when a challenging new project presents itself—to catalogue Britain's greatest taxidermist, the late M.H. Mason's wildly eccentric cache of antique dolls and preserved animals posed in elaborate dioramas. Rarest of all, she'll get to examine his elaborate displays of posed, costumed, and preserved animals, depicting bloody scenes from World War I.

"When Mason's elderly niece invites her to stay at the Red House itself, Catherine believes that her luck is finally changing. She's thrilled to maintain the collection until his niece exposes her to the dark message behind her uncle's 'Art.' Catherine tries to concentrate on the job, but Mason's damaged visions begin to raise dark shadows from her own past. Shadows she'd hoped therapy had finally erased. Soon the barriers between reality, sanity, and memory start to merge and some truths seem too terrible to be real . . . "

~ Jacket copy

One ordinary day, I was reading Gothic Beauty in the local bookstore and stumbled upon Adam Neville mentioned in one of their top horror novels listings.  Neville then became a curiosity of mine for quite awhile; however, I was never able to get my hands on any of his books.  Partly due to the lack at any bookstores and availability at the library.  When I chanced upon this title listed on the top horror novels, I decided to give my local library another go.

To add a cherry to the discovery of the book, it dealt with China dolls—one of my biggest fears!

To be quite honest, I'm not entirely sure what this book is about.  Simply put, I would say that it's about memories and forced self discovery.

I'm still torn as to what I think of this book.  Elements of it are amazing!  The ghastly and macabre air of mystery and the unknown lent to Gothic feel.  Neville was able to take the seemingly ordinary and twist it ever so slightly to make innocuous things turn sinister.  This gave it an overriding creepy feeling to the whole experience of the book.  And, to be quite honest, a book that forces me to look up words is truly amazing and worth a look!

Immediately, the book was engrossing and kept me wanting more.  I found myself staying up far later than I should just to read "one more page".  It would even ride along with me to work, so I could find a few extra minutes to read before I had to clock in for the day.  Truly, it was engaging and extremely hard to put down.  All of that being said, however, I felt as though many things in the book were not fully explained.  Yes, the reader guesses that something happened in London (you're finally told a little bit), but we never really know was fully happened.  And, with the little details that are given, I was questioning why she would be hired later on.  Yes, yes, we are told and it makes sense in the end, but I was still baffled through the vast majority of the book.  In addition to which, not only was I left with unanswered questions at the end, I found the end raising even more questions.  For me, that left me completely disheartened by the reading experience.  Even days later, I am disquieted when I think about it.

It is hard for me to write a proper review of this book when I have such a lackluster attitude walking away from it.  In some ways, it is hard for me to put down and let the questions rest.  All of that aside, it is worth a read!  The narrative style and the captivating mastery of the Gothic novel make it worthwhile in the end!