Book #16: Lionboy
Apr. 22nd, 2014 09:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thistlechaserLionboy by Zizou Corder.
Rating: 5/loved (1-5/hated-loved)
If I were reviewing only the first third of this book, I'd call it one of the best books I've read in years. The worldbuilding was amazing -- so good that I was in awe of the authors. (Zizou Corderis the pseudonym of mother/daughter British writing team.)
Set in a very near future version of our world, all sorts of alternate sciences (alchemy, voodoo, native magics) work, but the author handled it in a way to make them seem commonplace. One sentence went something like His mother was in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on her last batch of Breathe Easy potions while Charlie was in the living room watching The Simpsons.. Such a fun mix of what should be exotic mixed in with the everyday.
The family was great. The mother was a "scientist" (alchemist), and the father practiced African magics (native magics from Ghana). They joked that between the two of them (science and magic), they could figure anything out. Charlie, their son, could talk to cats. While how that skill came about would make no sense at all in our world, I loved the story in theirs. The father took toddler Charlie on a trip to Africa. The animals of Ghana were familiar with the father and knew he didn't hunt, so mostly just went along with their own business when he was around. A leopard's cub got bit by a poisonous snake and the father had the medicine to cure it, but the cub got startled after and slashed Charlie's arm. Blood from the medicine needle mixed with the slashed arm and because the leopard cub and Charlie exchanged blood at such a young age, Charlie gained the skill to talk to cats.
The world almost had a steampunk feel to it. Gas was mostly gone/banned, so trains and ocean liners were back in style. Only the very rich and powerful could use cars anymore. (Though, like the magic, the lack of gas was very much downplayed -- it was just a fact of life and got a casual mention now and then, it never got a spotlight on it.)
It was only when the plot started that my interest waned. That's not at all to say the plot was bad, but I love worldbuilding and getting to know characters a whole lot more than action.
I was really impressed with how well the authors wrote. The dialogue was so well done! We learned all new things in a natural way, no information dumps. I laughed multiple times in delight at just how well this or that part was written.
The only thing I didn't like about Lionboy is that it's the first book of a trilogy and the authors made no effort at all to give it any kind of a real ending; the end of the book could have easily been a break between chapters or a pause within a chapter. That sort of thing annoys the hell out of me. Want to write a trilogy? GREAT! More for me to read! But it annoys me when an individual book can't stand alone.
I selected Lionboy out of my To Read pile mostly by chance: I was looking for a new one to start and had had a great dream about werelions the night before, so when I spotted Lionboy it seemed a sign that I should read that one. It was a very good book, and I think if I wasn't in a reading slump right now that I'd call it a great one (and have given it a 5 rating). Heck, it really does deserve a 5, I guess I'll change that now.
I really should want to read the next two books in this series, but I really don't feel like reading much of anything. This really was a good book though. It felt a lot like the Chaos Walking series in that it had such a wonderful, realistic, detailed, similar-yet-not world. There was no darkness at all to Lionboy though, even though the plot had serious themes in it. Usually 'no darkness' would be a negative for me, but this story was just so magical and light, like a bedtime story or a generations old fable, I just loved it.
I suppose I will pick up the next two books after all.
Edit: Oh! I'm reviewing it without my ipad, so I didn't get to check my notes while writing this up. I forgot one of my favorite parts! The author would do something that made it clear we weren't in this world, but without adding any confusion. Now and then multiple words would be made into one. Riverboatpolice (police who patrol the river on boats), lionchamber (big room with all the lion cages in it), lionboy (the boy who assists the lion tamer). It was enough to give it an exotic twist without it taking even a moment of thought to figure out what it meant (thus not knocking you out of the story). So perfect! Such a great touch! I fell in love with the authors as soon as I realized this was an ongoing thing in the book. Not overused at all, maybe a dozen combined words in the whole book, but it was just so perfect to give it an exotic, not-our-world air.
Rating: 5/loved (1-5/hated-loved)
If I were reviewing only the first third of this book, I'd call it one of the best books I've read in years. The worldbuilding was amazing -- so good that I was in awe of the authors. (Zizou Corderis the pseudonym of mother/daughter British writing team.)
Set in a very near future version of our world, all sorts of alternate sciences (alchemy, voodoo, native magics) work, but the author handled it in a way to make them seem commonplace. One sentence went something like His mother was in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on her last batch of Breathe Easy potions while Charlie was in the living room watching The Simpsons.. Such a fun mix of what should be exotic mixed in with the everyday.
The family was great. The mother was a "scientist" (alchemist), and the father practiced African magics (native magics from Ghana). They joked that between the two of them (science and magic), they could figure anything out. Charlie, their son, could talk to cats. While how that skill came about would make no sense at all in our world, I loved the story in theirs.
The world almost had a steampunk feel to it. Gas was mostly gone/banned, so trains and ocean liners were back in style. Only the very rich and powerful could use cars anymore. (Though, like the magic, the lack of gas was very much downplayed -- it was just a fact of life and got a casual mention now and then, it never got a spotlight on it.)
It was only when the plot started that my interest waned. That's not at all to say the plot was bad, but I love worldbuilding and getting to know characters a whole lot more than action.
I was really impressed with how well the authors wrote. The dialogue was so well done! We learned all new things in a natural way, no information dumps. I laughed multiple times in delight at just how well this or that part was written.
The only thing I didn't like about Lionboy is that it's the first book of a trilogy and the authors made no effort at all to give it any kind of a real ending; the end of the book could have easily been a break between chapters or a pause within a chapter. That sort of thing annoys the hell out of me. Want to write a trilogy? GREAT! More for me to read! But it annoys me when an individual book can't stand alone.
I selected Lionboy out of my To Read pile mostly by chance: I was looking for a new one to start and had had a great dream about werelions the night before, so when I spotted Lionboy it seemed a sign that I should read that one. It was a very good book, and I think if I wasn't in a reading slump right now that I'd call it a great one (and have given it a 5 rating). Heck, it really does deserve a 5, I guess I'll change that now.
I really should want to read the next two books in this series, but I really don't feel like reading much of anything. This really was a good book though. It felt a lot like the Chaos Walking series in that it had such a wonderful, realistic, detailed, similar-yet-not world. There was no darkness at all to Lionboy though, even though the plot had serious themes in it. Usually 'no darkness' would be a negative for me, but this story was just so magical and light, like a bedtime story or a generations old fable, I just loved it.
I suppose I will pick up the next two books after all.
Edit: Oh! I'm reviewing it without my ipad, so I didn't get to check my notes while writing this up. I forgot one of my favorite parts! The author would do something that made it clear we weren't in this world, but without adding any confusion. Now and then multiple words would be made into one. Riverboatpolice (police who patrol the river on boats), lionchamber (big room with all the lion cages in it), lionboy (the boy who assists the lion tamer). It was enough to give it an exotic twist without it taking even a moment of thought to figure out what it meant (thus not knocking you out of the story). So perfect! Such a great touch! I fell in love with the authors as soon as I realized this was an ongoing thing in the book. Not overused at all, maybe a dozen combined words in the whole book, but it was just so perfect to give it an exotic, not-our-world air.
