Cashore Guest Post and Blood Song on Goodreads -- and Travel

Today I'm over at the Readings Books blogging about Kristin Cashore for their influential YA fantasy authors series. Readings Books are an institution in Melbourne, an independent chain of stores around the inner suburbs that host great events and have a wonderful atmosphere. You're probably all aware how much I love Cashore. If anyone is going to the Kristin Cashore event this Friday and she says ANYTHING about Bitterblue, tweet me ASAP! I'm dying for news about it. I won't make it, unfortunately :( For reasons stated below.

I was so thrilled to be able to reveal the cover and blurb for Blood Song this week. Thank you all for your kind words and excitement! It's a very exciting time. So good to see the cover cropping up all over the interwebs, including the Tor.com Facebook page and blogs like Pirate Penguin, A Cupcake and a Latte (who was the first person to mark Blood Song to-read on Goodreads, incidentally!) and LovLivLife.

Since Blood Song appeared on Goodreads two days ago I must confess I've been almost constantly refreshing the page! Just under 100 people have marked it to-read at the time of posting and it's climbing every hour. The internet does make being a writer a very exciting place.

This Thursday I will be boarding a flight to New York! I'm there for six days and I will be at Book Blogger Con. I'll also be meeting my wonderful agent Ginger Clark for the first time. I'm away for six weeks altogether, and I'll tell you all about my itinerary shortly. But now I must got buy some luggage and comfy gear for the plane.

If you're going to BBC or are in New York, hit me up via Twitter or email. I'd love to meet you.

A very happy Caturday to you all!

Alack, Alas and Woe Is Me

Why? Why should I be clutching at my breast and wailing fit to fill a moor? Because I'll be out of the country for Kristin Cashore's Melbourne events.

Suuuuuuuuuuuuucks. Cashore is one of my favourite fantasy authors. It's hard enough waiting for the release of Bitterblue (this year? Next year? Who can say!) without getting the chance to gush at the woman for thirty seconds while she signs my books and hear her speak. New York better be worth it, that's all I can say.

Cashore's two Melbourne events:

• ‘In conversation’ at the Readings State Library of Victoria bookshop, as part of the Readings Matters Conference, Friday 27 May @ 5pm, State Library of Victoria.

• Going Global, The Emerging Writers’ Festival, Saturday 28 May @ 11am, Town Hall Melbourne.

I'll be going to Cassandra Clare's event the evening of the 25th of May in Westgarth, however. RSVP here on Facebook. It's the night before I fly out. Maybe it'll give me motivation to, you know, READ HER BOOKS.

Review: Fire, Kristen Cashore

Fire is a monster, a girl so beautiful that she can mesmerise and influence those around her. She is the daughter of another monster, Cansrel, who used his abilities to the detriment of others and was the downfall of King Nax. Fire is determined not to follow her father down the same path. But war is coming to the Dells and Fire must decide whether she uses her talents to help King Nash, son of Nax. The commander of the army, Prince Brigan, has very personal reasons for distrusting Cansrel's daughter; her childhood friend Archer wants to keep her locked away from the men and monsters who constantly attack her; and Fire is unable to even answer one simple question: why does she exist?

Fire is set in a different kingdom to Graceling, one where magic manifests in the form of brightly coloured and mesmerising monsters. There are human monsters and animal and bug monsters, all with a taste for each others flesh. War is about to break out in the Dells and King Nash and his twin brother and sister wish Fire to help them gather intelligence by bringing prisoners before her to interrogate. But everywhere Fire goes are the giant raptors trying to kill her and the men of the Dells trying to attack her. Cashore quickly creates a sense of claustrophobia about Fire that negates any desire for the reader to envy her for her beauty; rather, the reader feels empathy and a strong hope for her happiness.

There's a wonderful scene early on in the book when Prince Brigan rides out with a contingent of men. They must get to the tunnels and away to where a village is being raided, but between the palace and the safety of the tunnels hundred of murderous raptors have gathered because of Fire, and they begin to attack the army. Bringing up the rear and in the most vulnerable position is Brigan. Full well knowing that Brigan hates the sight of her and that the raptors will attack her as soon as she appears, Fire rides out to distract them from the army, against everyone's wishes. It's a breathtaking scene and one that hooked me into the story. It promised everything I was hoping for: complexity, adventure, romance and a strong female lead.

Cashore follows through with each of her promises, bar one. There is a huge build up of tension between Fire and Brigan but I was somewhat let down in the end. I don't require romance in every book I read, but if the author goes out of her way to set up a huge rift between two romantically involved characters and it fizzles, I get very upset. Especially (and perhaps this is unfair) after Katsa and Po, the two characters from Graceling who were executed perfectly. (And for the girls like me who tend to fall in love with the male leads and like to argue endlessly about who is more worthy of their love, whom do I love more, Po or Brigan? The answer is Brigan. Though it's a difficult choice. Po is a darling. And probably better in the long-term. But who cares about the long-term when you have a crush!)

Silliness aside, it's the characters and the wonderful complexity of the story that make Cashore's books a delight to read. Fire would have gotten an all out rave review from me if it wasn't for the fizzle, but the romance was just one aspect of the story. The rest was amazing. Cashore will undoubtedly revive the fantasy romance genre which has been flagging of late, which I am very pleased about as that's what I love to read. And that's also what I write.

Cover notes: The UK/Australian one wipes the floor with the US one. I gasped when I opened the box, I really did.

REVIEW: Graceling, by Kristen Cashore

Katsa, the niece of King Randa, is Graced with the ability to kill. It's a skill that sees her exploited by her uncle and feared by all. When the father of the King of Leinid is kidnapped for seemingly no reason, Katsa meets Po, the only person whose fighting skills are anywhere near as good as hers. Realising she doesn't want to be the king's thug any longer, she and Po embark on a journey to find out just who is behind the kidnapping, and discovers that the truth is far darker than she imagined.

I have a thing for books about chicks who fight. Blame it on my formative years spent reading Tamora Pierce. It took me a little while to warm to Graceling, probably because I was expecting something like the Alana quartet. I was a little put out at first that Katsa seemed to have everything sorted: she's discovered her special abilities, she's got her fighting skills and her place in court, and she's all grown up. Things aren't supposed to be sorted in YA lit, that's their charm! But, of course, things aren't what they seem.

This isn't a Pierce book, it's a Kristen Cashore book, and when I got over my preconceptions boy did I like it. The moment it clicked for me was on pp. 64-65 of the paperback. Po has been fighting with Katsa, and Giddon, who has a wee (big, fat) crush on her, has taken umbrage to a scratch that Po has given her:

Katsa looked from one of them to the other, the two of them shaking hands, understanding each other's concern. She didn't see where Giddon came off feeling insulted. She didn't see how Giddon had any place in it at all. Who were they, to take her fight away from her and turn it into some sort of understanding between themselves? He should've taken more care of her face? She would knock his nose from his face. She would thump them both, and she would apologise to neither.

I hooted with laughter when I read this and promptly got out my green and purple pom-poms and did the feminists' victory dance all over my lounge room. There are plenty of instances in the book where she stands up for women's rights. Cashore doesn't get preachy about it; I think it just stuck out because between Bianca and her trunk-searching and apocalypses written in the 1950s I've been starved for a character I can be proud of.

This book has one of the most powerful adventure/survival sequences that I've read in a long time, one that really challenges Katsa's Grace. It reminds me a lot of the documentary film Touching the Void* because the events take her to the absolute limits of her endurance. Katsa and Po are still growing into their talents, something that wasn't apparent to me at first glance. But the pair do develop as the narrative progresses, and he's a very likable love-interest. This books is a wonderful romance as well as a great fantasy adventure, and is as satisfying as a standalone novel. Everything is thoroughly fleshed out, dealt with and tied up--apart from one thing. I'm assuming somewhere down the track we're going to see the sequel to Graceling, as things with King Randa are left unresolved. But come October 9 of this year Fire is being released, the prequel, and it's already picked up plenty of platitudes. Is Cashore writing the sequel to Graceling? If she is I'd love to know.

I'm glad I've gotten into Cashore's writing right from the beginning of her career, as I wish I had done with Maria V. Snyder. I hope we're going to see a lot more from Kashore in the future.

*This is a fantastic film from 2003. It switches between interviews with the real pair of mountaineers that climbed, and got stuck, on Siula Grande, and a re-enactment of the events. It's a very frank, gripping and emotional story, and it's also my boyfriend's favourite film. And he's a giant film nerd, so that's saying something.