The World That We Knew, Quote of the Day, The King Comes to TV, Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughn, Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne, Angel Mage by Garth Nix, and Nine Lives by Wendy Corsi Staub

I really want to read this book, not only because Alice Hoffman is an incredible prose stylist, but also because it tells an essential story of the lives of women during WWII, which is of particular interest to me.

Book Review

The World That We Knew

In 1941 Berlin, the Nazis are persecuting German Jews, and widow Hanni Kohn makes the terrible choice to send her 12-year-old daughter, Lea, to occupied France to try to protect her. With the help of Ettie, a rebellious daughter of a rabbi, Hanni secretly creates a golem, a mystical creature made of clay and other elements, who will stay with Lea and protect her when Hanni cannot. Alice Hoffman http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz41650752 weaves a rich tapestry of the overlapping lives of these women, and those who love them, in her powerful novel, The World That We Knew. Hoffman (The Rules of Magic http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz41650753 begins her narrative with Hanni and the desperate steps she takes to save Lea, most notably creating Ava, the golem. But when Lea and Ava must leave Berlin, the focus shifts to their journey as they try to survive the war and care for one another. At a safe house in Paris, Lea meets a young man named Julien, whose fortunes will later overlap with Ettie's in surprising ways. Meanwhile, Ettie is in hiding after a harrowing escape attempt, determined to wreak vengeance on the Nazis for what they took from her. Hoffman explores her characters' motivations for their desperate actions: revenge, fear, a desperate survival instinct, loyalty and, ultimately, love.

Hoffman's narrative intertwines the stories of her principal three characters and several others, including Julien, whom Lea loves; Marianne, a young woman who worked for Julien's family; and the mysterious heron whom Ava enlists to carry messages between Lea and Julien. Appearing in only a few scenes, but never far away, is Azriel, the Angel of Death, whose sinister presence is felt but not often seen by the characters. Hoffman's particular brand of magical realism tugs at the veil between visible and invisible, showing the connections that bind the physical world to forces beyond human explanation or control. Much of this interplay relates to Ava and her continued existence. As a golem, she is not meant to survive after fulfilling her task to protect Lea, nor is she supposed to feel human emotions or think for herself. But the exigencies of war and Ava's experiences with Lea and other people bring about powerful changes in her, and Hoffman uses Ava's character to muse on what it truly means to be human.

Powerful and moving, Hoffman's novel winds between the streets of Paris and lonely country roads, swinging between unimaginable fear and torture and small, quiet acts of courageous kindness. The world may be shifting under Lea's and Ava's feet, but the universe Hoffman creates, though dark, is shot through with light and hope. --Katie Noah Gibson blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams

 This is true, relationships with booksellers and other bibliophiles are one of the things that make bookstores so valuable to me, and to other book fans.

Quotation of the Day

"Every store I've visited on book tour has its own unique culture, but at every one I have felt at home. All the booksellers felt like old friends, and all their customers, too. In those stores, readers have waited patiently in line for me to sign their books. They have grasped my hands and told me their own stories of love and loss, their own stories of heart-lifting encounters with nature, believing I would understand. I always do. Whether a bookstore is in Tennessee or Pennsylvania, Georgia or New York, Alabama or Illinois, the people I meet there are family....

"Neighborhood bookshops will always be focused on people, and their true currency will always be human relationships. They can only trust that readers and writers will continue to value and support them, too, no matter what happens in the giant mall across the street."

--Author Margaret Renkl in a New York Times op-ed piece headlined "Parnassus Books Cares About Us. Does Amazon? http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz41652273"

 This movie looks like it will be utterly fascinating, and I can hardly wait to see it on Netflix.

TV: The King

A "moody, good-looking" first teaser trailer has been released for David Michôd's (Animal Kingdom) Netflix period-drama The King http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz41674067 starring Timothée Chalamet in the title role, Deadline reported. The project is based on Shakespeare's plays Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2) and

Henry V, "in which a young disgraced prince Hal (Chalamet) inherits the crown at a particularly turbulent time in English history and must learn what it means to be a king."

The cast also includes Robert Pattinson, Sean Harris, Ben Mendelsohn, Lily-Rose Depp and Joel Edgerton. Michôd and Edgerton wrote the script, and Brad Pitt's Plan B is among the producers of the film, which will get its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and release in select theaters and on Netflix this fall.

Warprize by Elizabeth Vaughn was a fantasy romance recommended to me by Gail Carriger and other members of the Parasol Protectorate Facebook group. It is the story of a healer in a medieval world who, though she is the daughter of the king (who has just recently passed away) has no designs on the throne, but instead prefers to help heal anyone who requires care. Her half brother, an insane and cruel man, ascends to the throne and basically botches the war with the Natives, what used to be called Indians, and is forced to capitulate to their Warlord, who insists on taking the healer/protagonist as his "Warprize," which everyone assumes means sex slave (spoiler, it doesn't). Here's the blurb: Even though she is the daughter of a king, Xylara refuses to wait idly for a marriage that will benefit the Land of Xy and so becomes an accomplished healer, a useful skill when her country is drawn into war with the Firelanders. Even though her half brother, the present king, does not want her treating the enemy, Xylara feels she must--both for the honor of Xy and for simple humanity. When her brother suddenly surrenders to the Firelander Warlord, Xylara is stripped of all her possessions and sent to the conqueror as a slave referred to as "Warprize." As Xylara learns to live with the masterful Warlord, she begins to understand the very different social structure and beliefs of those she has seen as uncivilized. Vaughan's brawny barbarian romance re-creates the delicious feeling of adventure and the thrill of exploring mysterious cultures created by Robert E. Howard in his Conan books and makes for a satisfying escapist read with its enjoyable romance between a plucky, near-naked heroine and a truly heroic hero. Diana Tixier Herald

I felt that though it started a little slowly, the book's muscular and dramatic prose moved the hearty plot along nicely by the time you're a chapter or two into the book. Because it was a romantic adventurous tale, I expected there to be more romance/sex throughout the book, yet the protagonists, Lara and Keir, don't actually have sex until the last third of the book. For some reason, this book felt a lot like a Star Wars tale to me, very straightforward legendary sort of saga that you know is going to be a gripping read. I'd give it a B+, and recommend it to anyone who likes Star Wars (the original trilogy) kind of romantic fantasy with clearly defined heroes and villains. 

Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne is a well written YA fantasy that has a sort of Harry Potter-ish feel to it, though the protagonist is a teenage girl named Kyra, who is an orphan of unusual abilities. Here's the blurb: Growing up on Forge's streets has taught Kyra how to stretch a coin. And when that's not enough, her uncanny ability to scale walls and bypass guards helps her take what she needs.
But when the leader of the Assassins Guild offers Kyra a lucrative job, she hesitates. She knows how to get by on her own, and she's not sure she wants to play by his rules. But he is persistent-and darkly attractive-and Kyra can't quite resist his pull.
Tristam of Brancel is a young Palace knight on a mission. After his best friend is brutally murdered by the Demon Riders, a clan of vicious warriors who ride bloodthirsty wildcats, Tristam vows to take them down. But as his investigation deepens, he finds his efforts thwarted by a talented thief, one who sneaks past Palace defenses with uncanny ease.
When a fateful raid throws Kyra and Tristam together, the two enemies realize that their best chance at survival-and vengeance-might be to join forces. And as their loyalties are tested to the breaking point, they learn a startling secret about Kyra's past that threatens to reshape both their lives.
In her arresting debut novel, Livia Blackburne creates a captivating world where intrigue prowls around every corner-and danger is a way of life. 

They should explain that (SPOILER) this is actually a shape shifter novel as well as the usual YA coming of age story. The prose is sleek and graceful, and the plot moves as fast as an arrow in flight. Once begun, I couldn't put it down. A definite A for this well written fantasy that I would recommend to anyone who likes medieval style shifter stories full of assassins and adventure. 

Angel Mage by Garth Nix is the first book in a new fantasy series by the author of the Abhorsen YA series and many others. I should note that I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) from Shelf Awareness in exchange for an honest review. Having read and enjoyed Nix's first series, I had high expectations for this novel, and I was confused at first blush as to why the book was so slow moving in the first 45 pages. When we finally get to our 4 protagonists, I was hoping that the plot would pick up and things would really start moving, only to be surprised at how much "telling"that there was, versus "showing," so I felt like I was wading through water to get to the point of each chapter. Too many unimportant details and "info-dumping" happen in this book, which is frustrating to me as a reader, and I believe would be frustrating to the intended audience for this book. Here is the blurb:

A new fantasy masterpiece from Garth Nix, bestselling author of the Old Kingdom series.
More than a century has passed since Liliath crept into the empty sarcophagus of Saint Marguerite, fleeing the Fall of Ystara. But she emerges from her magical sleep still beautiful, looking no more than nineteen, and once again renews her single-minded quest to be united with her lover, Palleniel, the archangel of Ystara.
It's a seemingly impossible quest, but Liliath is one of the greatest practitioners of angelic magic to have ever lived, summoning angels and forcing them to do her bidding. Four young people hold her interest: Simeon, a studious doctor-in-training; Henri, a dedicated fortune hunter; Agnez, a glory-seeking musketeer; and Dorotea, icon-maker and scholar of angelic magic.
The four feel a strange kinship from the moment they meet but do not suspect their importance. And none of them know just how Liliath plans to use them, as mere pawns in her plan, no matter the cost to everyone else . . .
Fans of Cassandra Clare, Holly Black, and Leigh Bardugo will fall in love with Angel Mage, a feminist fantasy that takes place in an alternate European world ruled by fearsome magic and deadly passions.

In the front of the book, Nix lists the Hierarchy of Angels, but he neglects to mention that there are 9 levels of Angel, not 8, and that they're listed in order of least powerful to most powerful. For those who haven't studied angels or saints or religious history, this can be confusing, because you just have to figure it out as you go along in the book. That said, the world Nix creates in which many everyday things are done by calling specific angels to protect or heal or fix them is truly fascinating. Nix's prose is overly fussy in places, yet still mostly well done, and while the plot needs tightening, I enjoyed his storytelling skills that kept me reading. I'd give this book a B-, and recommend it to those interested in historic magical fantasy somewhat similar to Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices series.

Nine Lives by Wendy Corsi Staub is a "Lily Dale Mystery" that I found at the library sale and, since it involved a cat, I had to have it. As the setting is a town similar to one in Florida that I wrote about when I was editor of Tampa Bay/The Suncoasts Magazine back in the 80s, (Casadega, populated entirely by psychics, and yes, they knew I was coming without me telling them so), I was also curious to see how much of that town would be reflected in the book, though I don't know if the author has ever even heard of Casadega, let alone visited the psychics there. Bella and her son Max are kindhearted foils for the crazy psychics and other odd ducks of the town, and I loved that the cat found a way to 'disappear' and 'reappear' at the right place and time throughout the book, flummoxing the humans and delighting Max. Here's the blurb: In this warm and witty series debut from New York Times bestseller Wendy Corsi Staub, a widowed young mom plans a fresh start in Chicago—but instead finds her way to a quirky lakeside village that just happens to be populated by mediums.
When reluctant road trippers Bella Jordan and her son Max detour to Lily Dale, New York, they're planning to deliver a lost cat to its home and then move on, searching for one of their own. But the footloose feline's owner Leona Gatto has unexpectedly passed away, leaving behind a pregnant pet without a mistress, a busy inn without a keeper—and a lovable circle of neighbors who chat with dead people. After agreeing to help out temporarily, sensible Bella doesn't need psychic gifts to figure out that a houseful of tourists and a litter of kittens lie in her immediate future—or that Leona was murdered. It's up to her to solve the case so that she and Max can leave town, but their new home—like Leona's killer—might just lurk where she least expects it.

It becomes obvious that Bella and Max will stay in Lily Dale and continue to solve mysteries and build a life there, which lends a warmth to the novel that I really enjoyed. The prose is precise and clean, while the plot had just the right amount of twists and turns to keep me reading. I'd give this book a B+, and recommend it to anyone who likes psychic mysteries and mom protagonists...oh, and very clever cats.