Abandon all hope? Don't be so pessimistic...

Abandon by Meg Cabot:

New from #1 New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot, a dark, fantastical story about this world . . . and the underworld.

Though she tries returning to the life she knew before the accident, Pierce can't help but feel at once a part of this world, and apart from it. Yet she's never alone . . . because someone is always watching her. Escape from the realm of the dead is impossible when someone there wants you back.

But now she's moved to a new town. Maybe at her new school, she can start fresh. Maybe she can stop feeling so afraid.

Only she can't. Because even here, he finds her. That's how desperately he wants her back. She knows he's no guardian angel, and his dark world isn't exactly heaven, yet she can't stay away . . . especially since he always appears when she least expects it, but exactly when she needs him most.

But if she lets herself fall any further, she may just find herself back in the one place she most fears: the Underworld.

Summary from Goodreads.

When Pierce Oliviera was fifteen, she died – but only for an hour. Not a very long time when compared to fifteen years of living (or 131,487.19 hours, give or take a decimal), but long enough to accidentally run into a Underworld-ly gatekeeper, John. What two ships, passing on hellish waters became something a little more since she’d previously met him when she was seven. That time she’d just shown him a little kindness, this time she maybe, kind of, sort of promised herself to him for all of eternity.

Oops.

Was there some love at first, er, second (and considerably more legal) sight going on? Possibly. Maybe even some lust, but that wasn’t reason enough for Pierce to stick with death for the rest of her afterlife. So she made for the exit. Whether it was due to her fast thinking or medical intervention in the form of epinephrine and defibrillators, she found her way back to the land of the living only to discover that dying – even if it’s only for an hour – has some serious repercussions. Within two years of her near-death experience her parents had split, her former best friend committed suicide, and Pierce has been moved to the rather morbidly named Isla Huesos (Island of the Bones) to start a new school at the bottom rung of the social ladder. Oh, and that John guy is still popping up whenever near-death comes to call.

Which is more often than you would expect from your average teenager who doesn’t have a death wish.

Meg Cabot has re-imagined the Persephone/Hades Greek myth and updated it for the modern teen. The Underworld, though still a cave beneath the earth, is staffed by biker bar-style, bad boy bouncers and the Furies who wish to torment them. Cast in the Persephone role, Pierce proves that she actually listens to the advice every girl has heard from her mother (don’t ever accept food from strangers, know your exits). This, along with some fast thinking, allows her to give only an hour of her life to John (now a gatekeeper instead of a god) instead of six months or all of eternity. Good thing too, as her own mother is too nice to call down Winter upon the land.

Thanks to Cabot’s breezy style and Pierce’s direct personality/acknowledgement of her more questionable behaviors, the author keeps her main character from verging into TSTL* territory. Still many of the plot points of the first book (in this planned trilogy) hinge on reactions that result in Pierce in life and death situations. Well this, and her inability to effectively communicate with John.

In flash backs Pierce compares herself to Snow White, the events of that hour long death creating a separation between her and the rest of the world. Her near death experience has caused her to disengage from school and her parents and friends. Because, really, how do you explain that life after death is far more complicated and a lot less beautiful than seeing a bright light at the end of tunnel? Refreshingly for paranormal YA, it’s not the infrequent visits from her otherworldly would-be lover that wakes her, but the death of her former friend. This propels her back into (destructive) action and ultimately leads to her move to Isla Huesos where the reader joins the story.

Due to Pierce’s fear, and his act first/think later attitude, John’s character appears only partially drawn in this first book. Pierce doesn’t know if she wants to get to know him, and due to the narrative being from her point of view, we are not allowed to know him either. Due to the events at the close of the story, however, I hope that both she and the reader will understand more about his character soon.

I will admit, Abandon isn’t my favorite Meg Cabot book – too many situations could have been avoided if Pierce and John had just had a straightforward conversation – but that still means its better than 50% of the other paranormal YA books out there.  I have faith that Cabot’s doing something interesting with the Hades/Persephone Myth. Despite my YA paranormal/mythological fatigue, I’ll be checking out Underworld when it comes out in 2012.

You can purchase Abandon from these fine retailers: Powells, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Your Local Indie, or you can pick it up at your local library.

Book Source: Βιβλιοθήκη (that’s library in Greek according to the Internets).

*Too Stupid To Live

Enchanting to meet you...

From the website/jacket cover for Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst:

A story about getting into college. You know, taking the campus tour, talking to the gargoyles, flirting with the were-tigers, riding the dragons...

While visiting the campus of Princeton University, 16-year-old Lily discovers a secret gate to a magical realm and must race against time to save herself, her world, and any hope she has of college admission.

It’s Class Reunion weekend at Princeton and Lily’s grandfather has invited Lily and her mother along for the first time. Finally it’s a chance for Lily to visit the university of her admission dreams and to have a break from being the child of a woman who regularly experiences “brain hiccups” – hiccups that have obscured her mind so completely that she cannot even remember her marriage to, or the subsequent death of, Lily’s father.

With their arrival on campus, grandfather reveals that this is not just a weekend away, but Lily’s chance to win her way into Princeton. To do so she must pass the test set forth by his fellow members of the Vineyard club. Simple really, just a scavenger hunt. And if she fails? Well, she’s still welcome to apply through admissions. A win-win situation, right?

But then the boy with the tiger striped hair shows up and the campus gargoyles start moving and talking. Her mom’s remaining sanity is fast depleting and if Lily wants to keep her focused on the here and now, then she’s got to find this Ivy Key. But that’s kind of hard to do when she might be experiencing “brain hiccups” of her own.

I’ve previously read Sarah Beth Durst’s Wild series – Into the Wild and Out of the Wild – and enjoyed her ability to take the fairytales that Disney taught us and twist them back to their darker origins. She does this even while acknowledging the greater truth: in real life heroes can often be villains and villains can sometimes save the day. It all depends on who is telling the story.

As with the Wild series, Durst uses pre-existing mythological creatures – fairies, dryads, were-animals, and gargoyles – but adds them to the world and mythology many of us would not be familiar with: the history and architecture of Princeton. The gates and gargoyles of Princeton animate to help guide Lily through her adventures and into other worlds, while working within the confines of established Princeton lore. This gives a rather unique spin on the creatures that inhabit much of the Young Adult literature being written today. (Gargoyles do not get nearly enough love if you ask me.)

When I first heard about Enchanted Ivy, I thought that this would be aimed at an older (read YA) audience. While Lily is definitely older than Julie from the Wild series, in some ways she reads the same age. Part of this is due, I’m sure, to the isolation Lily experiences having a mother known for her eccentricities and moments of crazy. What small glimpses we are given of Lily’s pre-Princeton weekend life, are of a girl who is shunned by the other students and spends her non-school hours taking care of her mother. This has caused her to miss out on many benchmarks that other high school students in their Junior year would have experienced. Still, given that she has been taking care of her mother, I didn’t expect her to read as young as she did. Especially since she too worries about suffering from her mother’s mental illness.

That said, Enchanted Ivy was a quick, fun read that would work as a great transition book for Middle Age readers looking for a gateway into YA or a light, but mythology filled novel for older readers looking for entertainment on a sunny afternoon. The violence of the fight scenes rank low on the scare scale and Lily’s romantic interactions with the two male protagonists go no hotter than a kiss each. Tye, the tiger haired boy, does vibe a little too heavily on the “but we’re soul mates” side of things, but not to the point of restricting Lily’s activities or other stalkerish (read: Edward-ian) traits.

Sometime this summer when it finally warms up, I’ll probably be adding her other novel, Ice, to my reading list. The idea of a modern day adaption of the fairytale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” that includes arctic travel sounds like just the thing once the weather actually hits the 80s.

You can purchase Enchanted Ivy from these fine retailers: Powells, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Your Local Indie, or you can pick it up at your local library.


Book Source: I picked this up at the fantastic branch of my local library. My library rocks! Congrats on the new book scanners, guys.