Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors

#24

Title: Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors Author: Jenny Nimmo
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 2005
Genre: Children/Fantasy

410 pages

+ Better character development (for some characters), somewhat better plot construction

- Most characters are still flat, most adults are still ineffective, the overall story arc is unclear and meanders

In some ways this installment is an improvement over the previous three in this series. Nimmo actually seems to have anticipated aspects of the plot earlier in the series, and to be looking ahead to future volumes. However, it is still rather disappointing. Characters who are no longer needed for their one plot point simply disappear, objects of great attention in one book never reappear, and it is still the case that any new information about a character is quickly shown to be a vital plot point. Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boyended with an incipient visit to Sparkling Castle. However, the castle, Ollie, and Mr. Boldova are not even discussed in the present volume. Christopher Crowquill comes out of nowhere and, his utility outlived, he disappears from the action.

Inconsistencies and discontinuities abound. For example, we learn that the endowed can usually identify each other, but Cook has never been identified by the Bloors. A character whose endowment flowers in this volume is similarly not identified by the other endowed. We learn late in the book that a shapeshifter has the people he is impersonating held captive. There is some implication that this is not just to keep them out of the way, but to "borrow...the mind" of the person. Should we then suppose that Yolanda had a little blonde girl locked away somewhere earlier in the series? Charlie now speaks enough Welsh to command the wand, though we haven't seen him study the list Uncle Patton gave him. An evidently stupid endowed child puts on a cape, even knowing that various poisoned-clothes makers are about. There is much to-do about the child's rescue and how important it was to circumvent the staff of Bloor's; later, however, said child is recouperating in the Academy's infirmary, presumably vulnerable to the Bloors' influence, but no one cares about this. Why do the prisoner's captors sequester him at the castle? It seems pretty labor- and capital-intensive to do so. Please don't get me started on the question of why a few rottweilers would disrupt Pets' Cafe, but the presence of multiple other dogs, cats, gerbils, a giant blue snake, birds, rats, ducks, etc. does not.

Charlie and some of the other endowed children remain at Bloor's Academy to keep the balance. Other endowed seem not to have this compulsion, either as children or adults. I'm astounded that endowed parents who are aware of the ongoing struggle of good vs. evil would permit their children to attend Bloor's without adequate monitoring and safeguards; I am also astounded that they would not descend on Bloor's en masse to tip the balance to the side of good. Indeed, the endowed seem for the most part to be remarkably disorganized.

The characters' lack of curiosity troubles me. Asa used to dress up badly and follow people; he no longer does so, but no one wonders why. Charlie's wand turns into a moth, but no one seems to find this interesting or noteworthy. The adults remain generally inadequate; perhaps they are as unimaginative as the children.

Troublingly from a humanitarian perspective, Uncle Paton has received an inheritance, which he spends on gourmet food. Given our understanding that Amy Bone is under Grizelda's thumb because she lacks the economic resources to have her own house, Paton's behavior seems remarkably insensitive. In addition, there's something that rings a little racist to me in Lysander's repeated reference to his ancestors as "my African ancestors." If I were an endowed person from my own ethnic background, would it be necessary for me to refer again and again to invoking the spirits of "my Jewish ancestors"? "Don't worry, Charlie--I'll call upon the powers of my Jewish ancestors"? "Don't worry, Lysander--I'll call upon the powers of my WASP ancestors"?

Poor editing dogs this series. This volume again reprints the introductory page about the Red King and his Time Twister, which has no bearing on the events in this book. The family named de Grey was referred to in the publisher's promotional materials as "O'Gre." While O'Gre makes more sense than de Grey, it was apparently changed after promo materials went to booksellers and others, lending confusion to the enterprise. Finally, and I hope that this is not too much of a spoiler, the Castle of Mirrors has relatively little to do with the book, and is an inaccurate title for that reason.

Not Even Wrong: A Father’s Journey into the Lost History of Autism

#23
Title: Not Even Wrong: A Father’s Journey into the Lost History of Autism Author: Paul Collins
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Year: 2004
Genre: Memoir/Psychology

245 pages

+ Informative, emotional, sophisticated, and ultimately optimistic

- No substantive concerns

This is such a lovely book that I wish that you would read it so we can talk about it. Paul Collins and his wife learn that their son is autistic (probably in the Asperger's range, though he doesn't say). Collins evokes a parent's vulnerability and tenderness in relation to his son. The story of their son Morgan and their relationship with him is interwoven with historical material on feral children, savants, artists, scientists, and other probable autists. I am reasonably conversant with the literature on autism spectrum disorders, but I learned several new facts from Collins and enjoyed his restrained excoriaton of Bettelheim.

Collins is a good writer and I hope to read his earlier Banvard's Folly: Thirteen Tales of People Who Didn't Change the World soon. I enjoyed the juxtapositions of family and historical tales, particularly since these conjunctions lend a pattern-seeking layer to the reader's experience. I would have liked to know more about Morgan's mother, Jennifer. She is the most elusive character in Morgan's story.

Self-Made Man: One Woman’s Year Disguised as a Man

#22
Title: Self-Made Man: One Woman’s Year Disguised as a Man Author: Norah Vincent
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2006
Genre: Autobiography/Social Science

296 pages

+ Interesting sociological adventure and engaging first-person account

- Tiresome gender stereotypes, use of deceptive techniques

In the tradition of John Howard Griffin's Black Like Me and Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, Norah Vincent disguised herself as a man and, for a year and a half, attempted to learn how men behave in their own company. While this is an intersting pursuit, and Vincent is not a bad writer, I was nonetheless disappointed by the fundamental triviality of her conclusions. Vincent seems to like neither men nor women as a group, and this antipathy is wearing after a while. Yes, she has something of a feminist outlook, but it is neither mature nor complex. Her observations about masculinity and femininity are not particularly nuanced and seem surprisingly naive for an adult. Her reported experiences with men prior to this experiment are scant, and those with women are stereotypical and suggest that women are mean and not to be trusted. Vincent fails to challenge this highly gendered world view; she masquerades as Ned in environments at the extremes of the distribution of stereotypical masculine behavior--a bowling league, anIron John-inspired men's support group and retreat, a door-to-door commission sales job, and a Catholic monastery. I wish that she had included a wider range of settings where men congregate, alone or with women, such as an office job or bookstore. At that, why no gay men's group? Vincent compounds her stereotypes by dating women through web-based services; this is fine, but why not try to meet women through a mutual interest (books, birdwatching, sports, etc.) for a more balanced experience? I can't think much of Vincent's observations about women's neediness when she is overgeneralizing from a very small and specific pool. Disturbingly, she has sex with one of these women. No word on what her girlfriend has to say about this.

I was troubled by Vincent's deceptive techniques, but more troubled in some ways by her urge (and in some cases, she acted on this urge) to reveal herself. She sees it as confessional and perhaps as a way to seek forgiveness for the deception; I experience it as a form of taunting or narcissism disguised as confession.

Be sure to check out both the hardback and paperback covers for several views of Norah and Ned.

Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy

#21
Title: Charlie Bone and the Invisible BoyAuthor: Jenny Nimmo
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 2004
Genre: Children/Fantasy

408 pages

+ Some character development and interesting plot twists

- Generally emotionally superficial; action somewhat illogical and inconsequential

This is the third book in the Children of the Red King/Charlie Bone series. I'm ambivalent about this volume. On the positive side, we learn more about Charlie's history, the Bloors, and the legacy of the Red King. While many of the images and events, such as talking to a giant magical snake, resonate heavily with Harry Potter, it's also true that there are a limited number of motifs from which to choose when drawing on mythic imagery. Skarpo's reappearance has some unexpected twists, and Billie's character is fleshed out and made more complex.

On the down side, the book suffers from the flaws of the previous two in the series, which are in my reviews so I won't reitterate most of them here. While there is some effort at character development, the children all seem flat and the adults even moreso. The adults are cruel yet highly ineffective, raising the question of why they are still in charge. The plot is often illogical (for example, Ollie's explanation of why he never left the Academy; Mr. Bodova's sudden return to normalcy) or inexplicable (why Ollie never contacted his family) or insufficiently prepared for (Venetia suddenly is described as someone who makes magical clothes). I understand why Ollie might not want to be invisble, but it seems like an invisible boy could be very useful in the battle against the Bloors and the wicked endowed. As was the case in the second book, plot elements are discarded after they are nominally resolved. This lends a picaresque air to the enterprise and works against finding any satisfaction in a long story arc. Events are disconnected from each other and thus largely inconsequential. What of the knight and his casket from the first book? What of the dagger the villains hoped Charlie would pick up in the second book? What happened to Henry? While I hope that these questions are ultimately answered, I don't see much evidence that they will be. I think it is unlikely that the many dangling elements will be resolved by the end of the series.

Oddly, multiple official reviews of this book repeat the statement that Mr. Boldova is a new art teacher. However, he was introduced in the previous book. Also oddly, the book begins with a statement that the Red King's time twister can be dangerous and unpredictable; however, this has nothing to do with this volume, and appears to have been accidentally transposed from the second book. This contributes to the impression that these books are under-edited.

The Birds of Kaua'i

#20
Title:  The Birds of Kaua'i
Author: Jim Denny
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Year: 1999
Genre: Natural history

120 pages

+ Large photos of birds in their habitats; useful information about birds

- Extinct and very rare birds mixed in with more likely sightings

After recently reading Phoebe Snetsinger's Birding on Borrowed Time, it was fun to see Denny acknowledging her son,Tom Snetsinger, an avian field researcher in Hawaii. This book is not a field guide, but is useful for learning about Kaua'i's birds' habitats, behaviors, and sometimes calls. The inclusion of some historical and environmental information is welcome and these pages are easy to read and engaging. The bird photos are larger than in many field guides and show the birds in more naturalistic poses. More on markings and differentiation between birds of similar appearance would be useful. The birds are presented by habitat, which is useful, but very rarely seen and extinct birds are intermingled with observable birds, which is distracting. This is true of the included bird checklist as well.

Many birders recommend H. Douglas Pratt et al.'s A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific, but for us bird dilettantes, Pratt and Jeffrey's A Pocket Guide to Hawai'i's Birds is probably sufficient when paired with The Birds of Kaua'i for island-specific focus.

Men and Cartoons: Stories

#19
Title: Men and Cartoons: Stories

Author: Jonathan Lethem
Publisher: Doubleday
Year: 2004
Genre: Short stories

160 pages

+ Deft characterizations, deadpan delivery of outlandish premises, fun cover art

- There's not much wrong with it. The last story seems weak as an anchor for the collection.

This is my 4th Lethem and the most delightful short story collection I've read recently. Lethem's focus here is on relationships--with oneself, with others--and the failure of communication. In many of the stories, intrusive encounters and unwitting coincidental meetings (with people previously known and unknown) provide the painful and sometimes humiliating impetus for the conclusion, which is often the narrator's awareness that he has disconnected or failed. This sounds grimmer than the collection actually is. Lethem's environments, as always, are fascinating and deceptively easily established; his dialogue is clever and wry without being offputting; his characters seem genuinely surprised or merely bewildered by their own lives. The conflicts that befall them are emotionally universal, yet at the narrative level bizarre. While none of us is likely to encounter the Sylvia Plath Sheep, we are all too familiar with the existential consequences brought on by that encounter. Even when they behave badly, Lethem's protagonists are likeable schlubs, and familiar schlubs at that.

 
A unifying theme present in many of these stories is the comicbook superhero, some of whose avatars are more successful than others. In addition, the collection uses minor images and motifs to bridge the stories. Some are thematic similarities ("The Spray" makes missing objects visible, then in "Planet Big Zero" the narrator comments, "so much of life becomes invisible"); others are more like puns (Toscanini's glasses in "Planet Big Zero" foreshadow "The Glasses").

Though I enjoyed the whole collection as a group, "The Spray" and "Big Planet Zero" were my favorites. "The Glasses" is the most poignant, and the only story that seemed to demonstrate the triumph of connection over isolation, albeit subtlely. "The National Anthem" is the anchor story and the weakest in the collection. It seemed too self-conscious and I was not engaged by it. Perhaps it was too reflective in a collection that otherwise used more eventful narratives. Perhaps it would have been more satisfying if it had reprised the comics motif. Whatever the reason, it is unsatisfying, and the only low point in an otherwise fine and sophisticated collection.

The back cover art on the hardback edition is in the form of the ad pages that used to run in comic books (think "X-Ray Spex!"). Some are blurbs about the stories; some are spoofs of ads ("Raise Fun-Loving AQUA CHIMPS/JUST ADD WATER!/Or mustard or vermouth or Drano or whatever. It's never too early to learn how fleeting love can be...."). You can see it using Amazon's Search Inside feature.

Charlie Bone and the Time Twister

#18
Title: Charlie Bone and the Time Twister

Author: Jenny Nimmo
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 2003
Genre: Children/Fantasy

402 pages

+ Likable characters, generally compelling villains

- Multiple plot problems and inconsistencies, very rushed coverage of climactic moments

A disappointing and uneven second book in the Charlie Bone/Children of the Red King series. I will suspend any comments about Henry and the Time Twister until I have read the rest of the books, and I hope that both of these elements prove critical to the overarching plot. On the positive side, we see Charlie's relationships develop, new characters are introduced, and we (and Charlie) gather new information about the Red King and, perhaps, a confrontation between his good and evil progeny.

Unfortunately, bad plot construction, bad editing, or both contribute multiple flaws to this volume. I am willing to suspend disbelief if the world depicted in a novel stays true to its own internal logic. This rule is violated in numerous instances, some small (if the endowed are never expelled, why do they put up with the cruel and capricious rules at Bloor's Academy?), some large (if the Time Twister is unidirectional, the argument about Mrs. Bloor is not compelling). Additional problems are introduced related to what appears to be faulty world-building. Are all of the endowed children morally compelled to attend Bloor's? Then why aren't (or weren't) the other endowed who have not attended Bloor's? If Charlie can "hear" portraits, why doesn't he hear the drawing of the Tollroc?

Worse still, both Charlie and Henry engage in extremely stupid decision-making that has no justification or basis given how Charlie has been described beforehand or how Henry was introduced. Their actions are implausible as well as distancing for the reader, and contribute strongly to the sense that Nimmo did not think this through as well as she might have. Inadequate forethought an characterization appear elsewhere, as Charlie seems to forget that Billy's allegiances are clear and Gabriel has "the famous gerbils" (never named in Book 1 but suddenly needed for the plot in Book 2), to give only two examples. Encounters with both Skarpo and the Red King are brief and underwhelming considering the power they should pack. I can't imagine that a reader would not have known where Charlie's father is by halfway into Midnight for Charlie Bone, and Book 2 does little to advance this aspect of the story.

The timing is off in a sequence involving a freezer; the villains are astonishingly ineffective; Uncle Patton's car would have to have headlights; I could go on naming inconsistencies. Since Midnight for Charlie Bone was much more coherent, I can only hope that Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy is a more sufficient offering.

Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals, 1962-1966

#17
Title: Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals, 1962-1966

Author: Thích Nhất Hạnh
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Year: 1999
Genre: Memoir/Buddhism

224 pages

+ Personal/philosophical memoir from an historically significant period

- Somewhat confusing time sequence; no particular reason for start or end points

This early volume (published in Vietnamese in 1966 but not in the U.S. until 1998) chronicles several years of Thích Nhất Hạnh's young adulthood in the U.S. and Viet Nam against the larger backdrop of the war. It provides a glimpse of the early years of Engaged Buddhism and provides some insights into the polarization of Vietnamese society and the suspicion under which anyone critical of the government functioned. Sadly, this will not be foreign to contemporary Americans concerned about the U.S. government's contemporary actions.

The structure is nominally in journal format, but since it focuses on just a few topics, and includes long essays about previous events, it is best read and understood as a memoir rather than a day-to-day account of experiences and impressions. This combination of present and retrospective accounts is confusing at times, but this does not detract much from the overall positive impression made by the volume. For me, the accounts of daily life, contrasts between the U.S. and Vietnam, and relationships are by far the most interesting aspects of the narrative; the philosophical and poetic segments are less engaging and sometimes abstract and disassociated from the heart of the book.

A sometimes-intimate portrait of Thích Nhất Hạnh as a young monk that will increase the reader's appreciation for his courage, vision, and deep concern for justice and the dignity of all people.

Midnight for Charlie Bone (The Children of the Red King, Book 1)

#16
Title: Midnight for Charlie Bone (The Children of the Red King, Book 1)

Author: Jenny Nimmo
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 2002
Genre: Children’s/Fantasy

401 pages

+ Nice tone, engaging characters, complex plot

- Climactic moments a little rushed, some thin characterization

An enjoyable beginning to a young adult series. I imagine that Scholastic named these books to evoke the HarryPotter series, though “The Children of the Red King” is a reasonable series title that is more striking than “theCharlie Bone books,” and the "Charlie Bone and the..." titles are derivative. It may be that the legacy of Rowling’s dense Harry Potter series that almost all other young adult novels seem somewhat rushed and sketchy by comparison.

Like Harry, Charlie is a young man just coming of age; also like Harry, he has hitherto unknown talents. His family is more like another Charlie’s family, Charlie Bucket of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Charlie’s relationships are credible and the environments, such as the menacing Bloor’s Academy, are vivid. Some characterization is a little thin and inconsistent (Billy is an example of this). On the other hand, characters such as Charlie’s Uncle Patton are nicely developed and ring true. The action is generally well-paced and the plot pleasingly convoluted. Nimmo’s revelations are well-placed and keep the action moving forward.

On the down side, it's not clear to me why the endowed, who are not artistically gifted, are placed in arts houses within Bloor's Academy, rather than within their own House. In a similar vein, there is no evidence that the Academy develops their endowments; if it exists only to monitor the children, there is no rationale given for why the parents would place their children in such a negative environment. I also see no evidence for why the parents of artistically gifted children would subject those children to this school. More problematic is that no good reason is given for the treatment of Emma Tully, or for the form her salvation takes. The casket guarded by Charlie seems to disappear from the narrative after its plot utility is concluded, and people in great danger appear no longer to be in danger once plot points are resolved, though the characters and circumstances that endanger them are still present.

Borders tells me that Scholastic issued this series in paperback only for its school-based book club; it is available new in hardback.

Next in the series: Charlie Bone and the Time Twister.

Birding on Borrowed Time

#15
Title: Birding on Borrowed Time
Author: Phoebe Snetsinger
Publisher: American Birding Association
Year: 2003
Genre: Autobiography/Birdwatching307 pages+ A fascinating account by the world record-holder for most bird species seen- Unengaging at times, perhaps due to only cursory coverage of the author's emotions and relationships
I learned about this memoir from Koeppel's To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, a Son, and a Lifelong Obsession. Like Koeppel's father Richard, Snetsinger dedicated herself to seeing as many new birds ("lifers" in birding nomenclature) as possible. It appears that she still holds the world record with over 8,500 species; at the time of her death in 1999, she had seen about 84% of the world's extant birds. Snetsinger began birding as an adult; aided by a "small fortune" inherited from her father, she was able to travel frequently in pursuit of new birds. A melanoma and prognosis of imminent death caused her to step up her birding, and periodic recurrences kept the heat on. Birding on Borrowed Time includes a fold-out map showing her extensive world travels.

I'm always pleased when I discover that an author I'm enjoying went to Swarthmore. Looking back on her college years, Snetsinger wonders, "Were there no birders at Swarthmore?" This question resonates for me as well. In fact, I remember no birds at Swarthmore, suggesting that I saw only familiar mid-Atlantic species like chickadees, nuthatches, and sparrows. Like Snetsinger, I don't remember anything even as unexotic as a warbler, though I spent a lot of time sitting quietly in the holly collection (Swarthmore is an arboretum) overlooking a section of Crum Creek. This inspires me to get up early at my next class reunion to search for morning birds.

Unlike Richard Koeppel's father, Snetsinger seems to have liked birds themselves, often exclaiming over their beauty, habits, habitats, and other features. At the same time, she clearly derives great pleasure from taxonomy, tracking, and later in the process, the competition to amass the largest number of sightings. In this regard, the birds are secondary to their acquisition and how it is tracked and expressed; they might as well be rocks or baseball cards. Indeed, Snetsinger devotes the bulk of more than one chapter to her development of an indexing system. If you have a profound love of office supplies and spreadsheets, you'll enjoy these chapters, as I did; otherwise, you'll probably want to skim them. Black and white illustrations and a section of color paintings by the well-regarded H. Douglas Pratt bring us back to the birds themselves when the narrative is dense with lists and descriptions of stages of developing the notations for the lists.

I'm interested in birds but not particularly acquisitive about them. I don't keep a life list, I use a pair of very cheap Bushnell 8 x 23 binoculars, and my most obsessive birding adventure was driving from Napili Bay on west Maui to Hosmer Grove on Haleakala at 5:00 AM to see 'I'iwi (Vestiaria coccinea), 'Apapane (Himatione sanguinea), and, as a bonus, a pair of Red-Billed Leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea) as the sun crested the mountain peak. None of these are rare in the Hawaiian Islands, but I hadn't seen 'I'iwi or 'Apapane on a previous trip and wanted to. Still, I understand both the attraction to birds and the delight of ticking off species in a field guide or list. Two days ago, I was excited to see three bald eagles closer to home than I've ever seen them; two were feasting on a sheep carcass, which was especially spectacular. From where I'm sitting right now, I can see 15 bird encyclopedias and field guides, some domestic and others for Asia, Europe, and Mexico. Still, I am less than a dilettante and hesitate to call myself even an amateur birder. The sort of obsessive birding Snetsinger describes leaves little room for anything else. Indeed, it threatens her marriage and causes her to miss the wedding of one of her children. Not cancer, swamped boats, earthquakes, gang rape, or broken bones stop Snetsinger from her pursuit.

Birding on Borrowed Time gives a good account of an obsession. In this way, it's a good companion to books like Fatsis's Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players and Jacobs's The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World. A good companion travel narrative is Gelman's Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World. To explore the emotional side and the effect of such obsession on one's family, read Snetsinger, then read Koeppel's rather wistful account of trying to connect with his father in To See Every Bird on Earth: A Father, a Son, and a Lifelong Obsession. 



Photo: http://www.hawaii.edu/elp/photos/iiwi.jpg

The Seventh Tower: Castle

#14
Title: The Seventh Tower: Castle

Author: Garth Nix
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 2000
Genre: Children’s/Fantasy

215 pages

+ Strong male and female protagonists

- In medias res--can’t stand alone; some POV shifts weaken the tension

This is the second of a 6-book series intended for younger readers. If it is an indication of the next several volumes, they really should be read more as serial installments than as related but separate narratives. I will review them with that assumption unless a different approach is warranted.

Castle continues in a seemingly picaresque style, but as protagonists Tal and Milla progress in their quest, it becomes clear that their personal concerns are embedded in a much larger context of history, politics, and intrigue. These broader elements suggest that what appear to be unrelated plot points will be revealed later as part of a greater pattern. Certainly Tal’s adventures among the Icecarls appear to be more fate than accident from the vantage of the end of Castle. The penetrability of the Castle mirrors the vulnerability of the society of the Chosen. Presumably phenomena such as the Veil, rather than simply serving as a starting point to establish alienness, will ultimately be linked to this world’s history in ways that are not yet evident to Tal and Milla; indeed, they are only at the beginning of their realization that there are questions to be asked.

I would have liked to see more evidence of Ebbitt’s eccentricity and arcane knowledge in The Fall; in retrospect, he seems too sketchily drawn there, even considering Tal’s age and relative lack of interest. I found his role in the Hall of Nightmares completely plausible; his actions related to Tal’s ring much less so. Only another few sentences would have vastly improved this scene and underscored some of the differences between Sunstones; without it, the scene seems deflating. Why do everything Tal has done if the solution to one of his problems is so easy? If it’s so easy, why didn’t we hear from Ebbitt earlier? Alternatively, a sentence or two from Ebbitt about why he was not more forthcoming about his secret knowledge earlier in Tal’s life, or even earlier in his quest, would go a long way toward character continuity.

The mood of Castle is somewhat darker than The Fall, and the shadowguards and Spiritshadows evokes bothPullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy and the demons of Stroud’s Bartimaeus trilogy. Structurally, Castle is a good companion piece to Heinlein’s Orphans of the Sky (sadly, apparently out of print), mirroring many of its events and images. If I were still a high school English teacher I’d use the two as a compare/contrast activity to highlight how “story” may be similar but “plot” different in different narrative frameworks.

The Seventh Tower: The Fall

#13
Title: The Seventh Tower: The Fall

Author: Garth Nix
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 2000
Genre: Children’s/Fantasy

195 pages

+ Worldbuilding, fast action, compelling protagonist

- A little underwritten, shape of overall narrative not yet clear

This is the first of a 6-book series intended for younger readers. As such, the narrative seems a little thin from an adult perspective. However, Nix is able to evoke character, situation, and complexity even within these parameters, and without a condescending or cute tone. As usual, Nix’s worldbuilding is compelling, with a strong archetypal undertone. The alienness of protagonist Tal’s world does require more exposition than I would like in an adult fantasy novel, but I think it’s necessary here and relatively naturalistic. Nix embeds much of the explanatory matter by two means: Tal’s worried ruminations allow the reader to understand his sociocultural surround and explain his urgency, and encounters with Icecarls allow further elaboration on customs, history, and the pragmatics of the world in which the action takes place. Within a rather grand and novel environment, Nix’s characterization is spare but deft.Tal’s antagonists are Roald Dahl-like in their pleasure in thwarting him, and the reader quickly learns, with Tal, that these intimate obstructions occur in the context of a more ominous, Kafka-like social context.

The storyline from the vantage of the end of this first book seem rather picaresque, though this appears to be a mirror of Tal’s perceptions of the events; the reader understands that the hints of as-yet unrevealed background and history will be further elaborated as Tal continues on his quest. The series is presumably a coming-of-age narrative and hero story, and I expect that Tal's concerns will become less personal and more universal.

The completed series was published from 2000 through 2001, which should suggest relatively good continuity, unlike more meandering and occasional series such as Orson Scott Card's disappointing Alvin Maker books.

Inkspell

#12
Title: Inkspell

Author: Cornelia Funke
Publisher: Scholastic
Year: 2005
Genre: Children’s/Fantasy

640 pages

+ Worldbuilding, competent female protagonist, interesting details

- Flat characters, deus ex machina, continuity/plot concerns

It took me a long time to get through Inkspell, and not because it was over 600 pages. Rather, I found bothInkspell and the first volume in this apparent trilogy, Inkheart, flat and clunky. This is “children’s literature” of the sort that makes the Harry Potter books so compelling by comparison: Where Rowling escapes her genre, Funke is firmly entrenched in it. Funke shows what she can do for about a hundred pages—roughly, pages 200-300 in the hardback Scholastic edition. However, whatever it is that illuminates a tale soon goes missing again.

The plot itself is fine so far as it goes: Events unfold (though I don’t see much character growth) and complications arise. However, characterization and character development (such as it is) is broadly and badly drawn and relies on one or two details about each character that are repeatedly asserted. I can live with this, though I’m surprised Funke can’t do better. What it means, though is that the characters are 1-dimensional; since the conceit of this series is bringing books alive, the lack of vibrant characterization is particularly problematic and intrudes on the reader’s suspension of disbelief.

More troublingly, Funke does not resolve two problems from Inkheart that contributed greatly to my disappointment with plotting in that book, and contribute several apparent continuity oversights in Inkspell. I’m going to be specific, so don’t read on if you don’t want to hear about events toward the end of both books.

Toward the end of Inkheart, Meggie reads Fenoglio’s pages, concluding, “and all those who had gone burning and murdering with him disappeared” (p. 510, Scholastic paperback edition). There are two consequences to this that trouble me: 1) When Meggie banishes the Shadow, Fenoglio disappears, presumably into the book. This is a man with a family whose disappearance occasions no more comment than “there’s nothing we can do about it” (p. 514) and Meggie’s awareness that he would miss his grandchildren (519). By contrast, Resa’s disappearance into the book many years before has been a source of agony to her family and drives much of the emotional narrative here. The lack of concern for, or subsequent energy spent on, Fenoglio’s disappearance makes this book deeply immoral and is the only real reason that I would not supply it to a child. The second problem related to this event is that Basta does not die with the rest of Capricorn’s men: “And indeed, why wasn’t he [dead]?" (p. 516). A shouting match ensues about why Basta isn’t dead, and his answer is “How should I know?” (516). I withheld judgment about this until I finished Inkspell. Since this question went utterly unaddressed, I will now say that for an author to pull this sort of suspension of the rules of her own universe to move her plot along is deus ex machina of the worst sort. If the reader can’t trust the book’s own internal logic, dramatic tension is lost and the resolution can hardly be satisfying.

Indeed, deus ex machina rears its head at various points in Inkspell, in most cases through the stratagem of someone remembering something s/he had forgotten (that the reader did not know about) or suddenly revealing a secret (that has not been previously hinted at). Hinting is, in fact, not Funke’s strong suit; when she introduces a new comment or detail about a character or locale, look for it to be a requirement of the plot shortly thereafter.

Not to spoil the major dramatic moment of Inkspell, but it was dragged off-course for me by my preoccupation with the details of the book made for the Adderhead. There is a discussion about the poor quality of the paper; later, a point is raised about scraping something off a page. I thought, “Huh. You can scrape ink off parchment, but can you really scrape ink off paper?” Apparently not, because at the next description of the book, the page that is scraped is described as parchment. Later, it’s described as paper again. I don’t care one way or another, except that a) this is sloppy writing; b) the reader has been told earlier that Meggie abhors the slaughter of goats for hides to make either book covers or parchment (I can't remember which), and a 500-page book would require killing around 250 goats according to the math used earlier in the book; and c) the Adderhead is clearly superstitious and meticulous. He would not provide inferior paper for the book. In addition, he would not propose or agree to the writing/scraping activity that occurs due to the fear that an error would be introduced into the text and hence the process. This is why errors in Torah scrolls can't just be scraped clean.

Between the poor characterization, the clunky language (some of it a translation problem if the complex tenses are any indication), the small but distracting errors, and the large and troubling moral and plot issues, I found Inkspell an unsatisfactory book and a disappointing follow up (or lack of follow up) to the problems raised by Inkheart. I’ll probably read the next one because I always hope an author will manage to pull the loose ends together, but I’m not hopeful.

Nitpick: It annoys me that there are presumably unrelated characters named Mortimer and Mortola.

Nitpick: The German title was Tintenblut, or Inkblood. The English language publishers should have retained this title, which is both more accurate and a better parallel to Tintenhertz, Inkheart.

If you enjoy books where the “real” world of the book intersects with “literary” worlds within other books, try Jasper Fforde’s Tuesday Next books (beginning with The Eyre Affair) instead. If you like books about how it's a problem to tamper with reality by manipulating a symbolic analogue, you will be better served by Le Guin’sThe Lathe of Heaven. On the other hand, plenty of people rate this book very highly. If the writing and moral issues I've identified don't bother you, have at it.