YA, toujours YA

Fearless by Francis Pascal was a short YA book that I found deeply unsatisfying. It was too gimmicky. It had too much bolding, and each chapter was excerpted on its title page. How annoying. It also was too short and had a cliffhanger ending.
This book brought up for me the idea of, what does it mean to be fearless? But not really in a good way. The main character says that she doesn't have the fear gene. But she does have an adrenaline response to dangerous situations. It's like what's missing is the idea that she should treat danger with caution. To me, that's not fear, it's common sense. Two stars.

The Dream-Maker's Magic by Sharon Shinn was the third in a trilogy which started with The Safe-Keeper's Secret. I enjoyed this book just as much as the other two. I think my favorite thing about it was that the plot didn't revolve around romantic love the way it did in the previous books. Also, one of the characters was gender variant, which came as a big surprise, but made me happy. Four stars.

Past the Size of Dreaming by Nina Kiriki Hoffman was the sequel to A Red Heart of Memories. I preferred the first book, but the second one was okay. The themes of family, dangerous urges, not belonging, and manipulation that are common to Hoffman's work were found here, too. I'm planning to track down the short stories featuring Matt Black that fill in some of the gaps in these books. In general, Hoffman reminds me of deLint. If you like his books, you should give her a try. Three stars.

Monster Blood Tattoo:Foundling by DM Cornish didn't really work for me. It was a loan from 7j, and her YA tastes overlap with mine about 90%. What didn't I like about it? Much of it offended my sense of fairness. When, in fiction, a main character gets in trouble due to no fault of his or her own, and subsequently is blamed for that trouble, it bothers me a lot. Yup, I'm totally aware that that happens all the time in real life. Part of the reason I like fiction so much is that it isn't real life. I'm not sorry I finished it, but I won't read the sequels. Two stars.

flu shots

A quick note- Cambridge and Somerville are offering free flu shots to residents this week and next week. There's more information on the city websites. If you are a person who should have a flu shot, consider using the service. The Cambridge page gives us some guidelines for who should get them.

fluff, glorious fluff

Also this week, I've finished Murder on Marble Row and Kitty Goes to Washington. Two quick and fluffy reads.

Murder on Marble Row is another in Victoria Thompson's Gaslight Mysteries series. I don't know how she continues to keep these from being predictable. Despite the number of them I've read already, I'm still unable to figure out whodunit with any accuracy. She really drags things out between the main characters, though - it's driving me crazy. Not just in a Mulder and Sculley way, although that's certainly a factor. But other aspects of their lives move on at a snail's pace, too. She keeps me reading, although not without a certain frustration. Three and a half stars.

Kitty Goes to Washington is the new sequel to Carrie Vaughn's Kitty and the Midnight Hour. I enjoyed it almost as much as the first book, which happens but rarely. Kitty is a very sympathetic character, and the troubles she gets into are quite believable. This book, even more than the first book, has her wondering who to trust. I look forward to the next installment, Kitty Takes a Holiday which is promised in 2007. ETA: On waking up, I remembered that this book had some editing problems and at least one significant plothole. Oh, well. I doubt it's Miss Vaughn's fault.