Author Liesel K. Hill's Musings on Fantasia...
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Mermaid Challenge Reviews, Week 13 + Follow Friday
Welcome to Week 13 of the Mermaid Lit Summer Reading Challenge! Below is my review for this week. If you have one of your own, feel free to link up with us and be sure to visit the others to see what they thought of their reads for this week! You may join the challenge anytime you like. See rules HERE. (Follow Friday below!)
Only two more weeks of mermaid challenge to go! It ends on August 15th!
This week, I read two mermaid books, though one of them was so short as to be considered a short story, or perhaps a novella. They were Sea Change by Aimee Friedman and Madly by M. Leighton.
My reviews are going to be short and sweet today. Madly by M. Leighton was really more of a short story than a novel. It pretty much served to introduce the character and conflict and then end in the hopes that readers will go get the next book.
I'm not entirely sure how I felt about this one. While reading it, I was a bit annoyed with the characters. Yes, they are teenagers which makes them immature, but Madly is either a total diva or clueless to the point of absurdity. And I couldn't help but think that Jackson, who is supposed to be a couple of years older, acted an awful lot like a teenaged girl. I was sure I would hate the book and was ready to give it a less-than-stellar review, but I will admit that once the conflict took off a bit, I was intrigued.
Basically ancients spirits are that have been locked away for centuries have escaped from their underwater prison and will now awaken their descendants to wreak havoc on the world. These spirits are only known to humans by the morphed way they've survived in fairy tales. So, the first one they're going after will be the spirit immortalized in the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale. I thought that was interesting.
I don't know if I'll pick up the next book. I'm not opposed to it, but I probably won't run right out and buy it either. The writing is good and the plot is intriguing. I'm just not totally in love with the characters. However, if you like a teenage-mermaid story that's heavy on the hormones and has fairy tale tie-ins, you'd probably enjoy it.
Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.
The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!
How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!
Back to school time! Create a reading list for the imaginary English Lit class you'll be teaching this semester.
Oh I could have some fun with this! I'm teaching two imaginary English Lit Classes--one for each blog. So check out the other one on my other blog!
I always hear about universities that actually teach classes on learning Elvish and such things from Tolkien's works. (Of course none of them are anywhere near me.) So, in my imaginary English Lit class, we'll be reading classic high fantasy including Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and the lost novels of Lloyd Alexander! Yeah! (And maybe I'll require the watching of at least one film adaptation, too! :D)
How about you? What will you read in your imaginary English Lit Class?
Only two more weeks of mermaid challenge to go! It ends on August 15th!
This week, I read two mermaid books, though one of them was so short as to be considered a short story, or perhaps a novella. They were Sea Change by Aimee Friedman and Madly by M. Leighton.
I'm not entirely sure how I felt about this one. While reading it, I was a bit annoyed with the characters. Yes, they are teenagers which makes them immature, but Madly is either a total diva or clueless to the point of absurdity. And I couldn't help but think that Jackson, who is supposed to be a couple of years older, acted an awful lot like a teenaged girl. I was sure I would hate the book and was ready to give it a less-than-stellar review, but I will admit that once the conflict took off a bit, I was intrigued.
Basically ancients spirits are that have been locked away for centuries have escaped from their underwater prison and will now awaken their descendants to wreak havoc on the world. These spirits are only known to humans by the morphed way they've survived in fairy tales. So, the first one they're going after will be the spirit immortalized in the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale. I thought that was interesting.
I don't know if I'll pick up the next book. I'm not opposed to it, but I probably won't run right out and buy it either. The writing is good and the plot is intriguing. I'm just not totally in love with the characters. However, if you like a teenage-mermaid story that's heavy on the hormones and has fairy tale tie-ins, you'd probably enjoy it.
Follow Friday
The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!
How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!
Back to school time! Create a reading list for the imaginary English Lit class you'll be teaching this semester.
Oh I could have some fun with this! I'm teaching two imaginary English Lit Classes--one for each blog. So check out the other one on my other blog!
I always hear about universities that actually teach classes on learning Elvish and such things from Tolkien's works. (Of course none of them are anywhere near me.) So, in my imaginary English Lit class, we'll be reading classic high fantasy including Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and the lost novels of Lloyd Alexander! Yeah! (And maybe I'll require the watching of at least one film adaptation, too! :D)
 |
| Source |
| Source |
 |
| Source |
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(
Atom
)
Great choices for the English Lit class Liesel! I considered doing fantasy too, but went a different route this week. My 5th grade teacher read us The Hobbit over a period of several weeks (which was when I fell in love with Tolkien). Even though we couldn't discuss it in depth it was such a terrific addition to class for me. Happy Friday!
ReplyDeleteTraci @ Mad Hatter Reads
Oh, a fantasy English lit class would be awesome! I went with mythology because it's a passion of mine. Thanks for stopping by my FF.
ReplyDeleteOld follower.
Kimberly @ Once Upon a YA Book
I had to check out both blogs :) I'm reading Narnia with my kids right now. Forgot how much I love it :)
ReplyDeleteMeredith
Meredith’s Musings
I have Narnia sitting on my shelf but I have yet to read it.
ReplyDeleteMy son wants to read Lord of The Rings with me. We'll hopefully be starting this one soon.
Thanks for stopping by :)
Happy Friday!
Marilyn @ Marilyn's Mystery Blog
Hopping through. Gotta love mermaids. It's been awhile since i've read a mermaid book.
ReplyDeleteMy Hop
Epic fantasy. I can't get enough.
ReplyDeleteI read MADLY too and it was a 3 star book for me too. I really hate how the ending wasn't really an ending.
My FF
OOh nice choices! Not familiar with all these, but seem to be classic yet still fantasy-ish!
ReplyDeleteHere's my Follow Friday
Have a GREAT weekend!
Old Follower :)
+JMJ+
ReplyDeleteI love the focus on Epic Fantasy! =D Can I be in your English Lit class? Pretty, pretty please?
Liesel I was thinking of Narnia too, that'd be a fantastic and in depth discussion :) I also love Lord of the Rings, again another fantastic book for school :D
ReplyDeleteMy Friday Hop
I had LOTR on my list too, I'd freaking love to have a class on learning Elvish, so cool!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by My FF, I'm an old follower :)
Great choices! I love Lord of the Rings.
ReplyDeleteNew follower via GFC.
Here's my Friday Hop.
I've been needing to read Narnia and lotr! I'm hoping to buy them both here soon and be able to sit and read them! So pencil me onto the attendance sheet, I'll be there with my pen and paper!
ReplyDeleteOld follower!
My FF + Giveaway!
Amber @Paradise of Pages
I think that would be a very interesting English Lit class...I always loved the books of Narnia and would love to teach them. XOXO - PJ
ReplyDeleteOoooh Lord of the Rings is an awesome choice! Thanks for stopping by my FF :)
ReplyDeleteGreat choices. I'd definitely attend that class.
ReplyDeleteOld follower
Great choices! Love Narnia and LOTR! I've never read Lloyd Alexander, I should do that sometime!
ReplyDeleteOld follower!
I think a lot of teachers are trying to spice things up, and having their students read stuff that might not be on the curricular a few years ago is the way to do it. It's the actual reading, analyzing and critic that counts.
ReplyDeleteYour list makes me want to sign up for yet another class, Liesel :)
Thanks for stopping by my FF post earlier. Have a wonderful weekend.