The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley was my last book read in 2012. After reading the neurotic cat humor book that I found somewhat less than humorous, I felt like I needed to quickly read something I loved to end my year. I figured that The Folk Keeper was a good bet, since Chime by Franny Billingsley was one of my favorite books in 2011.
The style in both books is very similar; both are fantasy and in both cases, Billingsley doles out clues slowly and sparingly so that it takes a while to figure out where you are and what's going on . . . but in a good way. You know how sometimes it can be terribly frustrating to have an author keep too many secrets from you, but at other times it feels more like a mystery is slowly unfolding and it's more of an adventure? The Folk Keeper was the latter.
I am so impressed with Franny Billingsley. The Folk Keeper is a middle-reader about a girl masquerading as a boy to get the job of Folk Keeper -- a person who keeps the harmful Folk at bay. Taken from the foundling home by a dying Lord, she is transported to a manor where she will continue her job as Folk Keeper in the cellar. But, there are new dangers near the seaside and there is much that Corin/Corinna doesn't know about herself. Scary and original enough to compete with a Gaiman, with a bit of magic and even a tiny touch of romance.
Highly recommended - a dark, mysterious, atmospheric book, beautifully written and deliciously creepy. The Folk Keeper was the perfect read to end 2012 and would make an absolutely wonderful read for the annual R.I.P. Challenge.
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder is actually Kiddo's book. I noticed Snyder has a more recent series and since Kiddo has read two of her series and enjoyed them, I bought him the two newer titles for Christmas then asked if I could read one. Instead, Kiddo shoved Poison Study into my hands. Here's what Isabel has to say about Poison Study:
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Obviously, she missed some key discussion points. Poison Study is about Yelena, a woman who is reprieved from a death sentence for murder when there's an opening for the job of food taster to the Commander of Ixia. Not only must Yelena take her chances with the potential for poisoning (because there is no escape), she must also keep her eyes out for the people who want to kill her for the murder she committed. Plus, she's got a little bit of a magic problem -- a touch of magic in a place where magical ability alone is a death sentence -- and she's haunted by the ghost of the man she killed, a very nasty man who deserved to die. Just so you know Yelena is a cool chick.
There were things I disliked about the world of Poison Study, but once I became accustomed to it I loved the story, even though I thought it bore some similarities to the only Snyder novels I've read: Inside Out and Outside In. A super-tough heroine who sometimes doubts her own strengths and abilities and gets beat up quite a bit, plus a very evil bad guy and at least one character who is not what he or she seems were the common denominators I recognized. Regardless, I loved Poison Study and actually had a little trouble switching gears when I picked up the next book. Poison Study was my first read in 2013.
Highly recommended - A very entertaining read with numerous dilemmas, a touch of magic and an action-heavy plot.
I am so impressed with Franny Billingsley. The Folk Keeper is a middle-reader about a girl masquerading as a boy to get the job of Folk Keeper -- a person who keeps the harmful Folk at bay. Taken from the foundling home by a dying Lord, she is transported to a manor where she will continue her job as Folk Keeper in the cellar. But, there are new dangers near the seaside and there is much that Corin/Corinna doesn't know about herself. Scary and original enough to compete with a Gaiman, with a bit of magic and even a tiny touch of romance.
Highly recommended - a dark, mysterious, atmospheric book, beautifully written and deliciously creepy. The Folk Keeper was the perfect read to end 2012 and would make an absolutely wonderful read for the annual R.I.P. Challenge.
1222222222222222222222
Obviously, she missed some key discussion points. Poison Study is about Yelena, a woman who is reprieved from a death sentence for murder when there's an opening for the job of food taster to the Commander of Ixia. Not only must Yelena take her chances with the potential for poisoning (because there is no escape), she must also keep her eyes out for the people who want to kill her for the murder she committed. Plus, she's got a little bit of a magic problem -- a touch of magic in a place where magical ability alone is a death sentence -- and she's haunted by the ghost of the man she killed, a very nasty man who deserved to die. Just so you know Yelena is a cool chick.
There were things I disliked about the world of Poison Study, but once I became accustomed to it I loved the story, even though I thought it bore some similarities to the only Snyder novels I've read: Inside Out and Outside In. A super-tough heroine who sometimes doubts her own strengths and abilities and gets beat up quite a bit, plus a very evil bad guy and at least one character who is not what he or she seems were the common denominators I recognized. Regardless, I loved Poison Study and actually had a little trouble switching gears when I picked up the next book. Poison Study was my first read in 2013.
Highly recommended - A very entertaining read with numerous dilemmas, a touch of magic and an action-heavy plot.
In The Garden of Happy Endings, minister Elsa's world is rocked when a young girl from her church is murdered. Unable to help her church family through their grief because she is having her own crisis of faith, Elsa leaves Seattle to spend time with her sister, Tamsin, and her former fiancee, Joaquin (aka, "Father Jack") in Pueblo, Colorado.
In Pueblo, Elsa stays busy helping build a neighborhood garden and serving in Father Jack's soup kitchen while helping her sister through a crisis of her own. There are a lot of personal crises in The Garden of Happy Endings, some really scary trouble with gang members, a few poignant moments with parishioners and a bit of a romance.
I liked The Garden of Happy Endings but I didn't love it and I can't quite put a finger on why. There was just something about the writing style that bothered me a bit, I suppose, or perhaps it was a little too predictable. Regardless, The Garden of Happy Endings is an engrossing story that explores some deep topics and which contains a surprising amount of conflict of both the internal and external varieties -- stuff happens, in other words, and yet there is a nice balance of darkness and light. While the book addresses God and faith, it's not a preachy book.
Recommended - A nice, light read about life, love and faith that is very difficult to put down. I'd recommend The Garden of Happy Endings for beach reading.
In other news:
- We went to Les Miserables for the second time, this weekend, and loved it just as much on the second viewing as the first. I really, really need to read the book. But, mostly I just walk past my copy and sigh.
- I read about a study in which diet soda was implicated for causing higher incidences of depression in regular drinkers. Huh. In the same study, they found that regular coffee drinking reduces depression. So, I bought a coffee maker. I need all the help I can get.
- I've photographed some recent arrivals but a "book box" has just arrived at my house, so I've got a few more to snap. I'm in an online group that holds group swaps, you see. We just pass a box around. Each person removes a few books and replaces those removed with an equal or greater number of books -- usually ARCs, but not always. Fun!
- Isabel got her shots recently. She weighs 9.1 pounds. That makes her the smallest cat I have ever been owned by. I was wondering if Vans (she's a rescue and obviously not a breed but a distant relative of the long-haired Turkish Van) are unusually intelligent because she is also the smartest cat I've ever owned. So I read up a bit and, sure enough, she fits the description perfectly. Vans love water, are very energetic explorers, play hard and sleep hard, are people cats and are fiercely intelligent. One of Isabel's favorite games keeps me running to change her water frequently. She likes to drop her dry cereal in the water bowl, just so she can fish it back out.
- It's cold and rainy, perfect reading weather. Happy Monday!
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It's cold and rainy there? We're practically having a heat wave - record highs. I like warm weather, but this is ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteYes, we're actually having a bit of an ice storm -- just starting to hit our area. Yesterday, it was in the 70s and so stuffy in the house that we turned the A/C on in the morning. By mid-afternoon, the cold front had arrived and we ended up turning the heat on. Unsurprisingly, all three of us had headaches from the sharp change in weather. Yeah, I want it to be cold as much as possible in the winter. We get so little break from the heat, in the South. I hope our cool front makes it your way.
DeleteI've head Poison Study on my shelf for ages. People raved about it so I decided I buy it. The book was shelved in the romance section at my store. It kinda made me nervous.
ReplyDeleteJenny,
DeleteIf I remember right, Luna is Harlequin's paranormal imprint. So, you kind of have to expect a bit of romance. But, I've seen a lot of Luna books shelved in the sci-fi/fantasy category and I think that's where most of those I've read belong. At least a touch of romance is a given but Poison Study is more adventurous than romantic, although it doesn't take long to figure out there's something more to at least one relationship, early on.
Ah, don't you just love perfect rainy weather :D I certainly do!! I think I may actually do jump in the tub with a book soon! Me and Matt went to see Les Mis last night and I swear if Anne Hathaway doesn't win an Oscar something is wrong…her performance of I Dreamed a Dream ripped my HEART out!!! What an actress, huh? Having said that, I just couldn't fall in love with the movie as much as the live musical. Still enjoyed it though. And hooray for more coffee :D
ReplyDeleteChris,
DeleteI like it till I have to get out in it! I have to go to the PO, today. And, in fact, I don't know where the post office is, in this town.
Yep, I thought Anne Hathaway was amazing. Funny, because the clips they showed in advance looked so melodramatic that I thought she was totally overacting. But, they were just out of context. They did a phenomenal job of showing Fantine's decline and she really made it poignant. I didn't cry the second time, though, thank goodness (forgot my tissues). :)
No, I don't think it's as good as the theater production but it did clarify a few things that were a little compressed in the musical, so I appreciated that. Need to read the book.
COFFEEEEE!!!!! Oh, and guess what? I'm using my coffee machine to make hot cider as much as I'm using it for coffee. LOL
I was just thinking about those traveling book boxes... As I pulled books off my shelves this month, I noticed that a few came from the Fort Worth Library (book sale back around 1999-2000) and several were from those book boxes (Yahoo group). Hmmmm, I should see if anyone wants to participate in one...
ReplyDeleteLes,
DeleteWould you believe I'm still in a yahoo group? Just one, now, but that's the group doing the book box. We mostly do ARC boxes, now, but not everyone blogs and if they want in they can just toss in their regular books. It's a fun way to share. :)
The first two look amazing, but the last one doesn't seem like anything that I would be interested in.It sounds like a great idea to be in a group that swaps books, as sometimes I don't know what to do with mine, and this would solve my problem rather nicely. I also think it's funny that your kitty has you running with all the messes she is making in the water dish. That reminds me of one that we have got here!
ReplyDeleteThe first two were obviously my personal favorites, although I did have a terrible time putting down The Garden of Happy Endings.
DeleteBook boxes are fun and a good way to swap books without racking up tons of postage costs. I donate most of my cast-offs, though, including ARCs. One of the problems with being a blogger and receiving ARCs is that they take too much volume and you can't possibly keep them all.
Do you have one that plays in her water bowl? I think it's so funny. But, it certainly keeps one hopping with water-bowl changes. LOL
I enjoyed Chime and will be adding Folk Study to my list. I read Magic Study several years ago without realizing it wasn't the first in the series. Intended to go back and pick up Poison Study, but never did!
ReplyDeleteIf you liked Chime, you'll definitely enjoy The Folk Keeper, Jenclair. I thought it was every bit as good as Chime.
DeleteOh, don't you hate it when you accidentally start in the middle of a series? I've done that. Actually, it used to not bother me but now it does. I bought Poison Study for myself, actually. Kiddo latched onto it and then insisted I buy the rest of the series and they simply became his. I don't mind. He reads super fast and is hard to please. I enjoyed Poison Study and would have happily continued on, but the other two books are apparently still packed.
I will put Folk Keeper on my reads for next year's RIP and I really like Isobel's review despite her missing obvious plot points.
ReplyDeleteYay! I hope you like it! I really think Franny Billingsley knows how to do "atmospheric" in a rocking fine way.
DeleteIsabel is so funny. I was sitting here typing up my thoughts and she stepped on the keyboard to say hello to me, so I went back and said that was her opinion. LOL Surely she has one. She was with me pretty much every time I picked up the book. She's a real buddy cat!
I read Poison Study years ago and loved it. None of her other books have quite lived up to it for me.
ReplyDeleteI have read a couple of other Barbara O'Neal books and liked them. She also writes under another name too, so there are lots of books available but I do think that some of them are more romancey than others.
If I had to choose, I'd say I liked Inside Out and Outside In better than Poison Study because IO/OI are dystopian books. But, I really enjoyed Poison Study and I'm looking forward to continuing that series.
DeleteI can't say I'll be running out to buy more Barbara O'Neal books. I'm not even sure why. The Garden of Happy Endings definitely sucked me in. Maybe it's a little too women's-fictiony for me. Hard to say. I do like a touch of romance but not a full-blown romance (well, usually . . . I never really know what will work for me).
I love Maria Snyder's books, though she does have a style and consistency that can make them seem repetitive if read back to back. But as fun fantasy fiction (and with a little time spaced between) I can't get enough of them.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the diet soda study was just for drinks with aspartame in it. Because my favorite is Diet Rite which uses splenda and is caffeine free. I'm definitely in with the coffee - love it!
The book trade group sounds like fun!
Alyce,
DeleteFortunately, I probably won't find Magic Study for a while! I enjoy her style, repetitive or not, like you.
The article I read didn't say whether "diet drinks" covered all diet soda drinks (although they did mention not just soda but sweetened fruit drinks). I can't drink soda with aspartame, so I usually stick with Diet Mt. Dew. Having the coffee machine is really helping me get away from the soda pop of all kinds, so I'm happy. :)
It's very fun passing around a book box! Sometimes, unfortunately, the post office loses an entire box of books. That is the weirdest thing. At least it doesn't happen often!