Ascendance Trilogy - 5 stars

     In these past few months, I (Noodle) have been reading some new books, ones I see suggested on the blogs I follow or that I find at the library or on Amazon. Some of those have gotten reviews, and more reviews of these new books are coming still. For instance, Poison is a book I found on another blog, and Snow White and Rose Red and The Grimm Legacy were both stumble-upons. As you can see by recent reviews, I have liked some of these new books I've been reading, while others have been duds. But just a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a real gold-mine.

     The Ascendance Trilogy, by Jennifer A. Nielsen has suddenly become one of my very favorite trilogies. Ever.

     It's going to be hard to review this trilogy, though, because a lot of what makes it good is that it kept me guessing the entire time. Not just in the first book or the second, but the whole time, in every book. Furthermore, part of what makes this trilogy so brilliant is the slow reveal of secrets. I actually sort of ruined one of the biggest secrets of The False Prince for myself by reading the little summary of it that's up on Amazon. So the most important advice I can give you about this series is: Don't read anything that's been written about the books. Basically everything will be some kind of spoiler.

     I know that sounds weird, but it really is true. 

     With that kind of warning, I'll try and do my best to write some sort of review of this trilogy. It won't be my best, or my most thorough, but I'll give it a shot.

     First of all, the Ascendance trilogy is one of the most impossible series to put down. It's one of the most suspenseful stories I have ever read. And in my book, any story that I hate having to put down and step away from is one that's worth reading and rereading. Secondly, I can't and won't write much about the events of The False Prince, The Runaway King, and The Shadow Throne. It would give away way, way too much. But I think I can safely give a little starter for The False Prince, just so you know what you're getting into when you start reading. Because I know you will.

     Sage is an orphan boy, quick on his feet, quick with his tongue, quick with his hands. A few days before he turns fifteen, a nobleman called Connor buys him as a servant. But instead of serving tables for the rest of his life, Sage has become a part of a daring scheme that Connor has concocted. A scheme which treads very close to being treason. Sage has no choice but to cooperate with Connor, however, because if he doesn't, he'll never be heard from again.

     Sage's secrets are slowly revealed all the way through the first book,and you never quite know what he's getting at and what his plans are until the very last pages of the very last chapter. I can't/won't say a word about the other two because that would give away way too much of the story, but they're very bit as good and suspenseful as The False Prince. 

     I can say a few things about the characters of the Ascendance trilogy. Sage, the main character and narrator, is funny, quick-witted, and probably the smartest fictional person I've ever had the pleasure of reading about. He's very distinct, and I was constantly on that fine line between laughing at his jokes and groaning at his seemingly stupid mistakes the whole time I was reading. Sage is genuine. He has a good sense of what is right and wrong, and although sometimes he seems like a no-good thief, he's probably one of the most honest people in the entire trilogy. He's also the kind of person that naturally takes the lead and comes up with the ideas and plans. Sage is what makes the Ascendance trilogy as good as it is. They wouldn't be the same without him. 

     Other characters, such as Imogen, the mute serving girl, Mott, Connor's bodyguard, and the other two orphan boys, Tobias and Roden, are also incredibly varied and unique. Nielsen did an amazing job when she created them. They're complex and well-rounded characters who all add so much to the story just by being there on the pages. 

     As for setting, there are king and queens, as the titles should indicate, but the story isn't set in a medieval world. I suppose I would have to say it has some of the characteristics of 14th century Europe. There are swords and chain mail, but there was also the one cannon, so it's not strictly a Middle-Ages type of setting. And although it qualifies as a fantasy story, there is not magic - Sage gets out of every one of his scrapes through sheer luck and his sharp mind.
     In the end, I have to say that in the Ascendance trilogy, Jennifer A. Nielsen did a wonderful job of bringing together a cast of unforgettable and entertaining characters, a complex and mysterious plot, and a mastery of the art of suspense. I can't speak highly enough of them - though maybe that's obvious by now. They're complicated enough to be satisfying for adult and teen readers, but there's so much action going on all the time that my younger siblings will probably like them a lot if I can just get them to read them. I rarely advise people to buy books, especially when it's so much easier to just check things out from the library. But with this trilogy, I'm going to make an exception. These are definitely worth buying so that you can have them around all the time. If I could rate higher than 5 stars, I would.

Link to author website: http://www.jennielsen.com/

The Other Boleyn Girl ~ 1.5 stars

The Other Boleyn Girl, by Phillipa Gregory, is a book I picked up at a friend’s house. It’s a historical fiction set in England during the time of King Henry the VIII, the English king who is known for having six wives. The Other Boleyn Girl is the story of Mary Boleyn, the sister of King Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn.

Note: This book is what I would consider an adult level book, so while I will try and be discreet in my word-choice, I don't intend to beat around the bush in stating the facts of what this book contains.

I won't go into much detail describing the incredibly complicated plot, which is full of surprising twists and turns and a great deal of intrigue. I thought the plot was pretty good, with a very human main character with human feelings - although her moral code wasn't quite up scratch, according to me. Basically, this book is set in a time period when people behaved very immorally, and any historical book written about King Henry VIII’s court would have to at least mention a few of these immoral practices. The Other Boleyn Girl, narrated by the sister of the second wife of the king, does more than mention - the plot of the book revolves around them. The Other Boleyn Girl is also a very character driven. Most, if not all, of the characters in the story participate in highly immoral practices, and so these get a fair amount of pages dedicated to describing them.

For these reasons, I didn’t find it to be a very pleasant story. I have never been fond of stories that contain much of this sort of material because to me it's highly inappropriate and distasteful to read about. I can tolerate a certain extent of the kinds of immoral material I found in The Other Boleyn Girl, as long as the story itself is still interesting and entertaining. But because The Other Boleyn Girl was, at least the way I see it, entirely about sinful people and their sinful actions, I didn’t enjoy it very much at all.

In other aspects, such as how well it was written and how well the characters were developed, I’m sure the author did a very good job. Mary Boleyn was a very human character, and very well-developed - I just didn't approve of the things she did. In other respects, it seemed to be a very historically accurate book. I'm no expert of 16th century England, but if she was faking the details, she did a very impressive job of it. If it hadn’t been for the central role that unappealing immoral and improper behaviors played in the story, I might have given it a higher rating that 1.5 stars. This is a book I’d only advise to people who enjoy that sort of material or are very interested in that historical period, and it’s certainly not a book I’d suggest to readers younger than seventeen or eighteen.

Behold the Dawn - 5 stars

     When I first got Behold the Dawn by K.M. Weiland, I didn't really have any expectations for it. I thought it might be a fun read and an interesting story, but not necessarily something which would rank among my favorite books. Within three chapters I literally could not put it down. Eating and spending time with people was reduced to the bare minimum, and I don't think I even got myself anything to drink. I didn't put the book down unless I absolutely, absolutely, absolutely had to, and then I was back as soon as possible to keep reading. That's how good it was. 

     Behold the Dawn has a lot of aspects that I enjoyed reading. First of all it was set during the Crusades, right around the time period of Robin Hood, and I enjoy reading fiction set during that time period. I was also captivated by the main character, Marcus Annan, a champion tourneyer. He's a strong and silent sort of person with a lot of pain in his past he's trying to hide from, and he is also one of the best-written characters I've read in a long time. Behold the Dawn is also a story of redemption, not the cheesy, sugary kind I've read in some books, but the kind that really rang with truth and resonated with me. 

     There were other aspects of Behold the Dawn that were very, very good as well, such as the characters, so genuine and real they should be walking off the page. There's also a slow-burning romance, strong enough to change Annan's life but not the defining feature of the book. I enjoy romance in a book, but I don't like that to be the entire focus of the story. There's also plenty of gritty action, and when Annan fights I can feel the battle. Weiland writes with passion and captures the little moments of her story masterfully. And there's suspense on every page - the secrets the characters carry will drive you mad until they're finally revealed in an stunning climax at the very end.

     The only negative thing I have to say about Behold the Dawn is that no one told me I shouldn't read it as fast as I did. It's the kind of book that should be taken at a reasonable pace so that all the details can sink in - I devoured it in about four hours. Another thing I noticed was that the book did allude to some unpleasant details of real life, and those things affected the past and present choices of several of the characters. These hints don't detract from my opinion of the book, but it was a detail I noticed which some readers might want to be aware of before they start reading this book. 

     My opinion of K.M. Weiland has definitely been boosted after reading this book. She's a powerful writer, and I highly recommend this book and any of her others as great reading material. I really can't believe Behold the Dawn is her first published novel, but it is now one of my favorite books.

Link to author website: http://www.kmweiland.com/

The Burning Bridge - 5 stars!

     The Burning Bridge is the second book in The Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan. I found these books when I was 12, and I've been absolutely in love with them ever since. The entire series are action-packed and full of interesting characters. They're exciting to read, and Flanagan writes in a style that's both descriptive and inviting. And he's funny. In my book, that counts for a lot. 

     The Ranger's Apprentice series is a must-have addition to your bookshelf or library. It's a 13-book series that follows Will, the original Ranger's apprentice, through his life as he grows from an apprentice to a real Ranger. His mentor, Halt, is an amazing character and one of my favorites out of the whole series. Other characters that accompany Will on his journey are Horace, a knight-in-training, Evanlyn, the princess of Araluen, Gilan, Halt's first apprentice, and Pauline and Alyss, a lady diplomat and her protege. All of them are characters I can and have related to over the course of the series, but out of all the books, The Burning Bridge is probably my favorite. In this book, the story of Will is really only just beginning, and he's already showing his promise as a Ranger. The cast of characters are gathering around him, and Will is faced with the problem of saving the kingdom of Araluen from an enemy that was supposed to have been powerless. 

     One thing I have to point out is that Will isn't training to become a forest ranger or anything like that. Araluen, Will's homeland, is a fictional kingdom in a fictional world something like medieval Europe. The Rangers of Araluen are an elite group of fighters, trackers, secret agents, and law enforcers. They are loyal to the King of Araluen and roam about Araluen making sure the law is kept, and when Araluen is at war they are invaluable as intelligence gatherers and generals. The Rangers are highly skilled archers and are able to walk without a sound and remain unseen in plain sight. They ride special horses, wear special cloaks, and use special weapons. Some people think of them as sorcerers because they seem like magic. Will has to learn everything a Ranger should know, and he uses all those skills on his adventures. The secret of becoming a Ranger is part of what makes these books such a great read. I highly recommend them.

     The Burning Bridge - and all the other Ranger's Apprentice books - have no inappropriate content in them. I would say the books are aimed at kids between 8 and 14, but I think they're also a pleasing and very compelling read for all ages. They don't use complicated language, so younger kids can comprehend them easily, but the story is far from shallow. Elements of romance, adventure, and battles show up, including one moment when Horace, Will's best friend, goes into one-on-one combat with the villain. That's a very suspenseful scene, and probably one of the highlights of the entire story. 

     Oh, and something I almost forgot to mention. The Burning Bridge has an extremely powerful cliffhanger ending. So you'll want to get the next book right away to find out what happens. 

Link to Ranger's Apprentice website: http://www.worldofjohnflanagan.com/rangers-apprentice/

The Squire's Tale - 5 stars

     The Squire's Tale, by Gerald Morris, is a really amazing book about knights and squires, adventures and quests. It's the first book in Gerald Morris's The Squire's Tales series, a 10-book series of retellings of various Arthurian legends with a unique spin on them. Gerald Morris tells a humorous and heartfelt story about knights and magic, with moments of true feeling and plenty of humor. I know I'm going to laugh when I read one of Gerald Morris's The Squire's Tales.

     The Squire's Tale has all the things I look for in a really fun read. It has strong characters in Terence (the squire) and Sir Gawain (his knight). During the course of the book, both of them go on a long quest given them by a faery enchanter and have all sorts of adventures: fighting recreant knights, meeting a mischevious faery, even trying to sort out a few knightly romances. Both Gawain and Terence are honorable and brave - both of them are some of the best examples of real knightly behavior to be found in the book. 

     There are also all the old staples of a story about King Arthur and his knights. Merlin appears, and so does the Lady of the Lake. King Arthur and his wife Guinevere are also characters, as well as a mysterious enemy who threatens King Arthur. In Gerald Morris's story, there are also faeries and enchanters, magical spells and disguises, and mysterious things that happen to Terence and Gawain during their quest. I'd highly recommend this book for all these reasons, plus once you finish the first book there's nine more stories to come!

     I would say this book is probably just about right for readers between 8 and 14. I started reading them when I was 12, and I still love them now, several years later. There's no inappropriate language or content at all, and the book is very engaging. The romance elements in it were brought to the story by other characters and in my opinion were more hilarious than realistic. The 'damsel in distress' and the lovestruck knight made me laugh every time. Morris used them and various other characters to poke fun at the ridiculousness of the pathetic ideas about chivalry and knightly love that came from the original Arthurian tales.

     The thing I liked best about this book and this series by Gerald Morris was that it was the best retelling of King Arthur that I've come across. I like reading about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, so I scout around for stories set in that era. Out of all of them that I've found, The Squire's Tales is my favorite. It's funny, there's adventure, and the true valor and honor of King Arthur and his knights shows in this series.