Midnight (W)rite ~ Book reviews and other curiosities

A mystery wrapped in Sumerian mythology and trapped in time Genre: Science fiction / fantasy A strong novella from Tim Powers involving Sumerian myth, time travel, and a love story. Richard Blanzac, a rare books dealer, receives a new lot of books that contains a manuscript by a little-known beat poet from the late 1950s. The manuscript has some mystical properties and Richard finds the answers to the mysteries surrounding the manuscript in his current time and in 1957. Very worth the few hours it takes to read. As with many of Powers' books, this book is beautifully rendered and will likely become a rare collector's item itself. 

Blue Sargent and the Raven Boys search for Blue's missing mother and their destinies Genre: Young adult, fantasy NOTE: This is Book 3 of The Raven Cycle. Beware spoilers for books 1 and 2 in this review. Blue Sargent's home is populated with women with magical gifts. Blue is a magic amplifier—her touch (or her presence) makes other magic stronger. Blue and four young men from the local boys prep school – Gansey, Ronan, Adam, and Noah – have become a very tight-knit group, with the common goal of trying to find the underground location where an ancient king is buried. The king is in a magical slumber, waiting for someone to find him and wake him. Legend says those who wake the kind will receive a powerful favor from him. In this third book of the Raven Cycle, Blue's mother, Maura, has left behind a mysterious note and disappeared. She's been gone for a month and Blue is worried she's in danger. She decides to go find her, and Blue's friends in...

  Published October 20, 2014 5/5 Stars Devon Greer’s world is shattered when a tragic car accident takes her best friend, Rachael. Miserable with grief, Devon attempts to adjust to this new, hostile reality, in which the kids at school (and most of Rachael’s family) blame Devon for Rachael’s death, since Devon was driving the car that fateful night. Not long after the accident, Devon has reason to question her own sanity when she sees Rachael running through the woods next to the road near the accident site. Upon investigating, Devon finds there are more creatures living in the woods than just wildlife, and she begins to believe there’s a chance to rescue Rachael from them and bring her back. Will Devon and Jonah – Rachael’s cousin who has discovered the secret in the woods as well, and who is developing tender feelings for Devon – be able to rescue Rachael before it’s too late? Allen-Riley has taken the wild and beautiful forests and waters of Michig...

A fantastic winter folktale, bleak and beautiful   The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey Reagan Arthur / Back Bay Books The Snow Child is a beautifully written story inspired by a Russian fairy tale. In a rare moment of playfulness, a childless couple named Jack and Mabel lovingly create a little girl made of snow. The next day, the snow person is gone but Jack and Mabel begin seeing glimpses and finding evidence of a young girl in the woods near their homesteading cabin. Jack and Mabel have come to Alaska in the 1920s with hopes of a new start. They’re barely surviving on the return from their crops, farmed exclusively by Jack, while Mabel makes baked goods for a little extra money. They’re considering admitting defeat and leaving Alaska behind when new connections with others in the area, including the mysterious snow child, give them new hope. The atmospheric differences in the writing between the spare, exhausting, isolated despair of Jack and Mabel at the beginning ...

Spunky, magic amplifying teen girl meets boarding school bad boys The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater Published September 2012 by Scholastic Press This is the first I've read by Stiefvater, upon recommendation by a trusted friend, and the trust was warranted! The Raven Boys is a young adult fantasy novel with a new and fresh premise that involves Celtic mythology, psychics, spellcasting, the spirit world, and other paranormal aspects that perhaps haven't been fully fleshed out yet (it's a series). The main characters are Blue, a 16 year old girl who has the gift of amplifying the paranormal gifts of others and paranormal energy in general, and The Raven Boys: Gansey, Adam, Ronan, and Noah, all very different and with their own developed backstories. It's been prophesied that if Blue kisses her first true love, he will die. Gansey's on a quest to find a mythical king whose legend says the one who wakes him from his very long slumber will get a wish gran...