#CBR6 Book 46: "Locke and Key, vol 1: Welcome to Lovecraft" by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez

Page count: 168 pages
Rating: 4 stars

Tyler, Kinsey and Bode Locke move with their mother to Keyhouse, their uncle's mansion in Lovecraft, Massachusetts, after their father, a school guidance councillor, is brutally murdered by a couple of Tyler's classmates. The entire Locke family are naturally extremely affected by the event, especially the eldest brother Tyler, who feels responsible for the event, and for not managing to rescue both his parents. Kinsey, his sister,  was hiding and keeping their youngest brother Bode safe, but she's suffering with survivor's guilt and dealing with a sense of helplessness because she was unable to do anything but hide as the terrible events took place. She completely changes her looks and tries to stay as unnoticed as possible, refusing to make friends or connect with anyone.

Keyhouse is not your normal large New England mansion. No one really believes Bode, the youngest brother, when he says there's a door you can go through that turns you into a ghost, or that there is a woman down the well in the well house, who speaks to him and wants to be his friend. They all think he's just making things up. Of course, none of them know that the creature down the well also talked to and still communicates with Sam Lesser, the mentally disturbed young man who attacked the Locke family in the first place. They think they're safe, because he's in prison. But Sam needs to get to the Keyhouse, and he needs to find the Anywhere key.

I don't read a lot of horror, but had Locke and Key recommended to me by several friends when I was in the US last summer. I bought the first volume, but didn't get round to reading it, and it stayed on my shelf until the April Read-a-thon came around. Comic books and graphic novels are always very thankful reads, because they give you a very rewarding story, but don't take as long to read as a full novel. Even though I was thoroughly unnerved and shaken by the story, I was also completely engrossed by the story of Welcome to Lovecraft and kept turning the pages while desperately hoping that things wouldn't turn out even worse for the Locke family than they already had. The entire cast of characters is great, and there are clearly lots of mysteries surrounding the Keyhouse left to explore. I'm always more likely to stick with a series if I like the art, and Gabriel Rodriguez is a very skilled artist, so that's not going to be a problem. I've already ordered the second and third volume, pretty safely assuming that this is a story I'm going to want to follow till the end, even if it scares me silly.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Books 44-45: "Boxers" and "Saints" by Gene Luen Yang

Total page count: 495 pages

Rating: 4 stars

In Boxers, we see the origins of the Chinese Boxer rebellion through the eyes of Bao, who becomes one of its leaders. Bao grows up in rural China at the end of the 19th Century. He lives for the spring every year when travelling troups perform operas, full of drama, excitement and ancient stories of heroes and gods. The stories stay with him throughout the rest of the year when he performs his chores and is teased by his older brothers. His life changes irrevocably the day one of the foreign white men, one of their priests, come to the village and smashes the idol of the village's local earth god, Tu Di Gong. Bao's father and the village constable go to try to complain about the actions to the local magistrate, but never reach their destination. Along the way, they ran into a troop of foreign soldiers, who beat them badly and stole all their tribute to the magistrate. Bao's father survives, but is never the same. He spends his days staring out the window, mumbling incoherently.

Years later, a travelling warrior named Red Lantern Chu arrives at the village, and starts training all the young men in the art of kung fu. Bao wants to train with the others, but is chased away by the jeers of his brothers and their friends. He trains in secret instead, aided by Red Lantern at night. Red Lantern is one of the disciples of the Big Sword Society. He wants the local young men to join with him in fighting the foreign influence in the country. As he leaves the village, taking the most promising recruits with him, including Bao's brothers, he sends Bao to be trained by ancient master on the top of a nearby mountain, who Bao calls Master Big Belly. 

However, Red Lantern's mission did not go well. He was executed along with the other rebel leaders, and the village men were lucky to escape. Now imperial soldiers are looking for them. Bao, filled with the mystical fighting spirit of old gods, attacks the soldiers and rescues the men, making himself their de facto leader. The men take up Red Lantern's cause and travel the countryside, training any and all men who want to fight against the influence of "the foreign devils" in China. Soon the Society of the Righteous and Harmonius Fist, as Bao renames them, is picking up supporters in every village, and the rebellion is spreading. Of course, in the course of ridding the country of "foreign devils", they are also met with the "secondary devils", native Chinese who have converted to Christianity. Do they need to die too, to rid the empire of the foreign influence?

In Saints, the companion volume to Boxers, we see the impact the Boxer rebellion had on some of the "secondary devils", the converted Chinese, and discover why some of them may have chosen to convert to the foreign religion. Four-Girl is the unwanted and unwelcome fourth daughter in her family and doesn't even warrant a proper name. She feels like an outcast in her own family, and decides that since she is clearly evil and twisted, her face should represent this. She sets her features in a hideous grimace every time someone looks at her, until her mother drags her to see the local acupuncturist, who also happens to be a Christian. 

He "cures" Four-Girl with kindness and feeds her. Meeting acceptance and affection in his home that she never gets at home, she keeps returning, claiming she is interested in Bible stories, when in reality she's mostly there to eat as much as she can. She keeps having visitations by visions of a tall white girl in golden armor, who she's told by the missionaries are Joan of Arc. The visions, as well as Four-Girl's general interest in the Bible stories, make them suggest that she convert. Once Four-Girl discovers that by converting to Christianity, she will become a proper "devil" and that the Christians will give her a new name, the choice isn't a particularly difficult one. Rejected by her own family and their traditions, she seeks out a new family among the "secondary devils". 

Once her family discovers that she has converted to Christianity, she is beaten and thrown out. Four-Girl, now Vibiana, goes with the foreign missionary to a large settlement not far from Beijing and devotes herself to working in the orphanage. They keep hearing stories of the atrocities committed by the Society of the Righteous and Harmonius Fist against the foreign Christians and the Chinese converts, and toward the end of the two volumes, Bao's and Vibiana's stories intersect. 

I have to admit, despite having a Masters degree in history, I knew next to nothing about the Boxer Rebellion, except what little was shown on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. My degree is focused on European mediaeval history, and there's so many interesting parts of world history that I wish I knew more about. So it's safe to say that almost everything I now know about the Boxer rebellion, I learned from these two graphic novels, which are both excellent.

Allowing us to see the rebellion from both sides is an excellent touch, and even when we understand the dissatisfaction of the Chinese peasants about the favour shown to the "foreign devils", white missionaries, diplomats and soldiers in China, as well as to the "secondary devils" who joined their cause. Being a peasant in a totalitarian regime is never fun, and it's understandable that too much mistreatment fosters rebellion and strife. It's still difficult to sympatise with Bao and the others as they cut down not only hostile imperial troops or thugs, but men, women and children who are peaceful, and just happen to be praying to a foreign god. After seeing the way Four-Girl/Vibiana is treated by her own family and relatives, it's not surprising that she seeks acceptance elsewhere and converts to get a chance at a different, and hopefully at least slightly better, life. It's also shown that while it may have been the thought of ample amounts of food that first drew her to other Christians, Vibiana grows devout in time, to the point where she is willing to die for her faith, if necessary. 

The storytelling is magnificently done, and the art is brilliant. I haven't read Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese yet, but will absolutely be seeking it out after this. Boxers and Saints have won countless awards, well deservedly, and show that while a lot of people consider comic books and graphic novels as silly, shallow entertainment, truly profound and important stories can be told through the medium. Anyone interested in history, or just good stories, should check these books out.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR6 Book 43: "The Sandalwood Princess" by Loretta Chase

Page count: 240 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

Philip Astonley, youngest son of the Viscount Felkoner, also known as the Falcon to a select few (which is surprising to me as it's not exactly a secret identity very different from his family name), is hired by the wealthy and powerful Marquess of Hedgrave to steal a sandalwood statue and bring it from India to England. He can barely believe his luck when he discovers that the statue is given as a gift to Miss Amanda Davencourt as a farewell gift from her dear friend, the Rani Simhi, also known in India as the Great Lioness. He ambushes Amanda on her way home and steals the statue, but discovers that the rani is close on his trail and has poisoned his servant, near fatally. In order to get passage on the next ship to London, he has to pretend that his servant is one of Hedgrave lawyers, while he is in fact said man's valet.

It just so happens that Amanda Davencourt is on board the same ship, along with her chaperone and one of the rani's most dangerous servants, who ran away to escape his mistress' wrath once he discovered that Amanda had been attacked. Amanda knows that Hedgrave wanted the statue, and suspects that his lawyer may have it in his possession. She fully believes Philip's ruse that he is a servant, though, which also causes difficulties on the long journey back to England as the Philip tries to get to know her to discover if she's one of the rani's clever accomplices or just as innocent and naive as she seems to be. As they spend more time together, Amanda and Philip grow more attracted to each other, and as she believes him to be a simple valet, it's not like anything can come from their shipboard attraction.

Amanda isn't quite as innocent and sheltered as Philip believes, and manages to steal the sandalwood statue back before Philip and his servant are about to leave the ship in Portsmouth. Having been promised fifty thousand pounds for the artifact, not to mention because his professional pride has been wounded, outsmarted by a spinster, Philip tracks Amanda down to her remote estate in Yorkshire and manages to convince her that he was fired when his employer discovered the statue was missing. He's hired to be her butler, and shortly after also takes the duties as secretary. Amanda is writing a book about Indian gods and mythology and while she is clearly a brilliant scholar, she's not very organised. Philip makes himself completely indispensable to her and her household, plotting and scheming how he can get Amanda to remove the sandalwood statue from her bank vault so he can steal it back. Meanwhile, Padji, the Rani's erstwhile enforcer and now Amanda's temperamental cook is deeply suspicious of Philip's motives and does whatever he can to keep the rogue and his beloved mistress from growing closer.

The Sandalwood Princess is one of Loretta Chase's early romances, first published in 1990. Unlike most of her more recent romances, it's more in the style of Georgette Heyer's novels, with a very chaste romance and a very slow build-up. Anyone expecting crazy smexy-times must look elsewhere. For a lot of the novel, very little happens. Most of Philip and Amanda's relationship is gradually changed. It takes them months on board the ship back to London to get close to each other, and Philip spends at least two thirds of a year in Yorkshire as her devoted servant. All this while concealing his true motives and social rank from her. He's determined to carry out his mission, even after he falls in love with Amanda.

My favourite part of the book is absolutely the last third. Too much of the story just doesn't seem to go anywhere, even though I much prefer a slow-burning and gradual romantic development to a couple who fall madly in love with each other over the course of a week (or less). There are a few unexpected twists revealed towards the end of the book, that raises it from a mere three stars, and the constant scheming and double-crossing of the protagonists is a delight. I would say that this is a novel to check out if you are a Loretta Chase completeist, but not the one to begin with if you're interested in trying her books. I would recommend Lord of Scoundrels or Mr. Impossible as good jumping-on points.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

Spring Readathon 2014: End of Event

1) Which hour was the most daunting for you?
Without a doubt, hour 8 and some of hour 9, but not due to anything reading related. For pretty much that full hour, my six-month-old nephew screamed more or less non-stop because of teething pain, and refused to go back to sleep. It started out annoying, moved into upsetting and proceeded to scary, as he just got more and more distraught. Luckily, I got him sleep about 20 minutes into hour 9 and he slept peacefully until the end of my babysitting gig.

2) Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
I'll be naming specific titles further down. Graphic novels are great. They allow you to read a lot, in not that much time. I was also very grateful that I had an audio book on my phone for when I was travelling home from babysitting.

3) Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
No, not really. I think it's run very well indeed, and I like the new website design.

4) What do you think worked really well in this year's Read-a-thon?
As I was babysitting for most of it, I didn't really have time to check the website or do any challenges or focus on anything but actually getting reading done when I finally had some time to spare. I'm glad I at least got a few hour of reading in, it makes me glad I didn't decide to skip altogether. I'm also deeply grateful for Andi's reading stats spreadsheet, which made it so much easier to keep track of my reading, even though I occasionally only had five minutes in an hour to read. I've downloaded it and stored it, and will be using it for every Readathon from now on.

5) How many books did you read?
Three and two thirds.

6) What were the names of the books you read?
Two thirds of The Sandalwood Princess by Loretta Chase
Boxers by Gene Luen Yang
Saints by Gene Luen Yang
Locke and Key, vol 1: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez

7) Which book did you enjoy the most?
Not sure I could pick, they all turned out to be good.

8) Which did you enjoy the least?
Again, I actually really enjoyed all of them.

9) How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you take next time?
I fully intend to participate again in October, and will be a reader. Hopefully I'll be able to clear the whole 24 hours for reading then.

Total time spent reading: 5 hours and 15 minutes
Pages read in total: 847
Books completed: Three and two thirds

Spring Readathon 2014: Sadly, very little reading so far

So I signed up, even thought I knew I was going to babysit four kids for the entire afternoon and evening, a six-month-old baby, a five-year-old, a nine-year-old and an eleven-year-old. I'd hoped to get some reading done while the younger ones were asleep. Alas, while my baby nephew was pretty much a delight for most of the day, he was less fun when it was time to actually go to sleep. It took me the best end of an hour to get him to sleep in the first place, and then, because the poor dear is teething, he refused to stay asleep for much of the night. Hence there hasn't exactly been a lot of quality reading time.

Still, at the end of hour 11, I had managed to read 177 pages, 24 of which were from a fairy tale collection as a bedtime story for my five-year-old nephew. The other 153 were the about 2/3 that I had left of The Sandalwood Princess by Loretta Chase, the only book I've been able to complete so far. Normally, I stay up until the wee hours of the morning, and have to go to sleep around hour 17-18. Completely worn out by my babysitting job, I'm going to retire to bed now, and see how much I get read tomorrow before the cut-off time of 2pm.

I have several trade paperbacks of comic books lined up, for quick and easy reading:
Wonder Woman, vol 2: Guts by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang
Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction and David Aja
Locke and Key, vol 1. Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez
Chew, vol 2: International Flavour and vol 3: Just Desserts by John Layman
Boxers & Saints by Gene Luen Yang