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Book Highlight: Rapunzel’s Revenge & Calamity jack
If you like Westerns and if you like fairytales, these are for you!
Really, they should be everyone cuz comics are cool but that’d be too after-school special. However, I just found it amazing because the fairytale genre just doesn’t have a lot of western AUs. School or towns full of fairytale characters, yes. Erotic interpretations. Darker and edgier versions, but this is the only fairytale western and it is a rollicking good time.The premise doesn’t divert too much from the original tales but it takes plenty of leeway in deepening the characters. In Rapunzel’s case, she was the indifferent child of Mother Gothel, desperate to see beyond the estate’s wall only to find out the true poverty that lays out in the New World colonies thanks to Gothel’s tyrannism. She also finds out her real mom works at the slave mines. With this shocking revelation, she pushes back at Mother Gothel for all her lies and gets suitably imprisoned in the middle of a swamp tree. The isolation doesn’t cow her to submission but gives her years train her long braids into lassos.
Oh, and she teams up with a morally bereft thief, where their time together helping the other citizens of the Wastelands and other New World colonies brings them closer and reminds the thief that money shouldn’t make the world go round but concern for fellow citizen.
And no, that thief isn’t Flynn Rider. It’s Jack of Beanstalk fame which is actually very clever as he fits the archtype perfectly. He is a thief because of his poor background and his stealing came from good intentions to uplift his mother’s station in life. Also the whole good-hearted yet somewhat unsocialized girl softens the cynical thief came before Tangled. Yep, this was published in 2007 so take that, Disney.
The Hales make a point in treating both as equals. Rapunzel is initially concerned that she is naieve about the world what with everyone’s concern about money over kindness before others. But then she decides it’s not naievity, it’s just the right thing to do. That certainty of doing what is right allows her to stand her ground against Gothel’s method of hardening her so she could take over her empire. Badass.
And Jack is great too with his improvised plans, and brief moments of care for others. Yes, he hides it under reluctance and eyerolls but when he gets into it, he is Rapunzel’s biggest supporter and throwing fire at coyotes, stealing guns of kidnappers and fighting sea serpents.
Of course, his own novel goes more in-depth, detailing his ostracisim, his former bad deeds, his adorkability in trying to admit his feelings to Rapunzel, and how he truly redeems himself with the wit and improvisation that he previously led him to believe that he is just a dumb luck naer’do well.
Nathan Hale’s art shine (no relation to the married writers) as usual, blending humor, grit and sincerity in equal measures. The detail is everywhere. You can see the dust amd the saloons, and lush green paradises. Also the world-building between the more rural New World colonies and the steampunk-esque city where Jack is from are completely different yet blend easily to the whole Western aesthetic.
Basically, it has everything. Action, humor, development and even betrayal and burgeoning romance. A very inventitive twist to some classic tales.
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Ranking Jem and the Holograms
After rereading the series over the year, I have to rank the arcs because let’s face it, some are just more totally outrageous than others.
- Viral: The second volume of J&tH brings some more depth and nuance to all the characters. ANd by that, instead of a black and white battle of Holograms vs Misfits, the Misfits get their own sympathetic backstories especially with Pizzaz’s car crash, showing that they are as much of a family as the Bentons are. In a more dysfunctional way. The Holograms have their own interesting work as they are now officially successful and have to maintain that success while keeping Jerrica’s secret. Plus Rio gets his own limelight issue. Just a great balance of BTM drama, humor and character development. Plus this volume as the fun Christmas special where both bands are forced into secret santa with each other.
- Showtime: The Jem and the Hologram story is pretty basic if you already know it, but Thompson and Campbell’s killer team-up of design, writing and all-out talent, they manage to make the origin story feel brand new with engaging fast-paced plot.
- The Misfits: This spin-off focuses on entirely on The Misfits and their reality show. A cash grab in order to outshine the Holograms and recoup some money after their previous bad behavior and cancelled concerts. And it does the job by launching their comeback and bringing readers onto their side, going into their backstories, dealing with size insecurities, learning disabilities, neglect, abandonment and finding confidence in music and the bad.
- Totally Outrageous: The final arc doesn’t feel final as it wasn’t supposed to be. Damn IDW for cancelling it too soon! Yet I have it fourth in the ranking because I enjoyed the Holograms vs the Stingers banter and sabotoge which gave them more to do than in the actual arc they appeared in. See below. Nonetheless, it does serve its quality of dramedy and friendship feels.
- Dark Jem: Dark Jem fully utilizes the world’s sci-fi trappings by revealing that a virus, Silica, is taking over Synergy, and wants to take over the world using the Holograms’ sonic soundwaves. It’s a mash-up of rockstars saving the world ala Totally Spies. It’s a diversion where the rest of the series is strictly semi-realistic, dramedy but it does it so well. However, because it feels like such a diversion, it ranks lower. Still the Holograms/Misfits team-up absolutely rocks!
- Enter the Stingers: The second band that encroaches on Jem’s territory has an interesting edge in that it is bringing the European sound to U.S. audiences and provides a real rival for Jem’s affections, I mean Jerrica’s affections. Which is precisely the problem as Jerrica starts to suffer an identity crises where she literally can’t separate between Jem/Jerrica, subsequently Rio/Riot. However, that interesting plot is skimmed over and solved in less than two pages. I felt like I was missing several issues! Apparently coporate was rushing the comic so they can cancel it already which was such a shame. However, it introduces Raya and she is super sweet. Unfortunately, she also suffers the same lack of character development.
- Dimensions: If you like to be a completist, or you want more Jem in your life, this anathology provides fun adventures by a variety of artists and writers. It’s slice of life, unrelated to the rest of the arcs so ranks lower. But my favorite story was that of the karoke competition between the bands.
- Infinite: Basically this is just a sci-fi spinoff where the bands end up in a dystopian dimension of themselves and work to bring about its revolution. It’s just so random and disconnected from the rest even though it takes place right after Totally Outrageous. If you like sci-fi AUs fine, but it wasn’t for me.
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Author Highlight: Michelle Moran
I have already extolled Moran’s virtues in historical writing in previous posts but after several more books in her catalogue, I have to expound on how deftly she immerses the reader into the ancient world.
It probably helps that she had previously majored in archeology and has travelled extensively on dig sites so she has a ‘real world” connection to the Egyptian saga (Nefertiti, The Heretic Queen, Cleopatra’s Daughter). I mean, obviously modern Egypt is different from ancient Egypt but I imagine exploring the temple ruins and such does give you an idea of what it was like back in the heyday, coupled with the research and histography archeologist go through in contextualizing the artifacts in connection with the cultural, political and personal beliefs of the people in that era.
That’s why when one reads her work, you can easily picture the setting and atmosphere of the palaces as Moran walked in their steps herself.
In regards to her characters, she does an excellent job in blending the personal struggles alongside the political. In Nefertiti and The Rebel Queen, she chooses to have the narrator not be the famous queens (Nefertiti and Rani of Jhansi) but people close to them in court. Initially, I was disappointed to see these women not through their own lens but percieved through others but narratively it makes a better choice as it illustrates that we can’t quite ever know how these women thought as their stories can only be pieced together by the remnents and stories of others.
An overarching theme throughout all her novels is the protagonist being in love with someone else but having to choose duty or forced by their relatives to take a political match over happiness. We see it in The Second Empress where Marie Louise marries Napoleon to gain his favor and unite the French to the Hapsburg Empire. When Nefertiti’s sister has to marry a court minister so Nefertiti can continue her religious overhaul in Egypt, and so on.
However, staying to close always proves to be the more dangerous option. Not only from opposing revolutionaries but jealous rivals like Marie-Louise having to contend with Josephine’s supporters as well as Napoleon’s sister who wants to marry her brother in a throw-back to Egyptian royalty. It’s all connected and very incestuous, seriously insane. But that’s what makes it entertaining as Moran puts a human spin on these famous figures, highlighting their foils, flaws and success.
The most powerful would be in The Rebel Queen which takes on the underrated (in the U.S.) story of the Rani of Jhansi who used legal and militarial means to take back her kingdom from British colonial rule. Truly, a ruler of the people, the Rani amassed a following by personally leading battle, training soldiers (including an all-female contigent) and selling her valuables to clothe the poor.
These are great books, even if some tropes get repetitive, as it serves a nuanced view of historical figures contextualized in their respective eras. Nefertiti is a visionary but pragmatic, ruthless and unmoving when it comes to changing her plan when it provokes backlash from her own people. Marie-Louise is an ideal empress, being docile and bound to duty but learns to harnass her voice and stop bowing down to political pressure and seize her happiness (while siccing the Haspburg Empire on her ex-husband). Rani is generous, intelligent and a warrior, but unknowable and secretive except to her inner circle for good reason. All worth knowing more of and should get big-screen debuts.
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Nancy Drew ReRead P4
The final seven wrap up the Nancy Drew series in a . . . well t didn’t really wrap it up as Nancy Drew lives on forever and the series followed that cue without any sappy goodbyes or retrospectives but act like its just another day in her life. So let’s get to the final seven.
The Clue in the Crossword Cipher-Nancy’s new friend Carla begs her to go to Peru with her after her precious plaque is nearly stolen. Said plaque is actually a map to treasure because treasure always falls in Nancy’s way. The girls travel to Lima where they face more robberies and attempted kidnappingas they struggle to decipher the indigenous code of the Ponces’ inheritance. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been reading these back to back but I didn’t find this nearly as exciting as it should be.
The Spider Sapphire Mystery-Yet another one where natives play a vitally helpful yet stereotypical part as Nancy tries to find the stolen spider gem. Honestly, not much else to be said between the classic stoic noble Cherokee warriors and the bumbling Indian (Asian Indian not Native Indian) jewel thieves. Just did not age well. Also spider in a jewel? Creepy!
The Mysterious Mannequin-I actually nejoyed this one as I find Turkey to be supe rinteresting in an artistic sense and this book leans into it by extolling the beauty of Turkish rugs, architecture and exotic mannequins. The latter catches Nancy’s eye and she ends up in a mystery of romance and excitement. Loved the adventure even though I found the ruse to be so complicated to be real.
The Secret of Mirror Bay-This was a very fun camp adventure where Nancy helps the Girl Scouts and shows off her skills, inspiring the next generation with finding more treasure. So it was nice and it has a really cool cover.
The Double Jinx Mystery-This one hits close to home as greedy redevelopers threaten to condemn the house of Nancy’s friend, Oscar and his wife. Utilizing dirty tricks, poisoning and stealing, the two almost get away with it if not for that meddling kids. . . oh wait, I meant Nancy. A real Scooby doo-esque mystery.
Mystery of Crocodile Island-Back to Florida as Nancy and her friends fight in the swamp lands against smugglers. Full of madcap excitement but predictable in how much danger they face between snakes, spiders and subs. Ultimately forgettable to me as the plot felt overshadowed by the speedy events.
The Thirteenth Pearl-The final mystery brings Nancy to Japan against cultist who steal Mr. moto’s Pearl to bring about another doomsday cuz cult. A nice finale though I wish there was more of a full circle moment.
So yeah, Nancy Drew definately deserves her role in the literature canon of great female heroes as she almost can do anything. Like Kim Possible without the martial arts and the sheer inventiveness of her adventures and mysteries will always keep you on the edge of your seat. Plus it acts as a cool time capsule as well. I just suggest not reading them all at once because it gets tiring after awhile. Still, glasses up to Nancy Drew!
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Author Highlight: Gloria Chao
So I decided to spend the week reading Gloria Chao’s catalogue of books. Which okay that was easy since there’s only four and she’s addictively readable. While each premise seems light, she also deals with the more difficult frustrations of coming of age as a Taiwanese American daughter of immigrants and the difficulties of communication between generations. Even though the parents and daughter hurt each other in harsh ways, there is still optimism and humor interspersed throughout plus swoonworthy romances.
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Nancy Drew ReRead P3
Now onto the vacation series, otherwise known as #30-40 more or less. This was a very exciting set as it combines my favorite book trope, travelling with Nancy Drew mysteries.
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Author Highlight: Neil Gainman
Initially I was going to stop at Gainman’s classic child horror tale, Coraline, but I saw that he has several fairytale adaptations in his repatoire so I felt I had to read them to complete my fairytale TBR pile.
Let’s get to it!
The Sleeper and the Spindle was the only “high school” level book which it really isn’t too high-school because of the same-sex kiss. Quelle horror. I mean the kiss was completely platonic too but I digress. It was my favorite one as he cleverly ties the tales of Snow White (now a queen on her wedding day) who decides she must complete one last mission and save the neighboring kingdom from its sleeping plague and wall of thorns. Aka Sleeping Beauty. Sure, no one is explicitly named, even the dwarfs, as it comments within the text, but you can tell.
However, it’s not just a cool mash-up but an insidious twist, touching on Snow’s own traumatic past and her desire to be a good leader. Just the best of the bunch.
Snow, Glass, Apples, is definately for adults if one couldn’t tell by the first page spread of erotic. I mean it’s tastefully done as Doran it mimics the style of stained glass art (the whole book does) but it gives you an impression of the atmosphere of the book. Daark, sexy and grimm in turns as this Snow White is a eerie beautiful vampire whose lies founded the tale we know but the Queen is here to tell us the truth in her final moments.
Also a really good book with how it manipulates the elements we know, the dwarfs, the apples, and the sorcery with bits from older tales like necrophilic princes and iron-forged shoes. This was just a masterclass in creatively twisting a tale, and I changed my mind this is my favorite one.
Hansel and Gretel is a pretty straight retelling with no twists except for the woodcut-like illustrations by Lorenzo Mattotti. I guess it’s a good primer but didn’t see much creative input that makes this distinctly Gainman. Which I would define as darkly whimsical. Like Tim Burton! It’s what made the Coraline movie so good. I highly recommend the first two novels and maybe next year, I’ll dive into some of his classic works like Good Omens.
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Nancy Drew ReRead P2
I know I started the year with a Nancy Drew reread, and finally twelve months later I get to the rest. I’ve been busy. Nonetheless, I almost got the whole collection minus 4 of them that had already been checked out from the library. Or stolen. It wasn’t quite clear.
Anyway, onto the second reread which I did books 8 through 20 more or less. Here the books are very remiscent of Scooby Doo from the 60s vibes to the wacky hijinks. Only I’d argue Nancy’s adventures were a touch more dangerous as she and her friends were getting constantly kidnapped by men who want to get rich the quick dishonest way. Since there’s too many to do a full review, here are my quick thoughts on each.
(more…)#carolynkeene, #middlegrade, #mysteryattheskijump, #mysteryofthemosscoveredmansion, #nancydrew, #nancydrewmysteries, #passwordtolakespurlane, #rachelreads&reviews, #theclueinthejewelbox, #theclueintheoldalbum, #theclueoftheblackkeys, #theghostofblackwoodhall, #thelueofthevelvetmask, #themessageinthehollowoak, #themysteryoftheivorycharm, #thequestofthemissingmap, #thesecretintheoldattic, #thesignofthetwistedcandles -
Farrah Rochon Interview
Farrah Rochon is the author of several romance and YA books including The Boyfriend Project trilogy, The Holmes Brothers and Almost There. Farrah graciously gave her time to answer my questions about football, romance and Louisiana atmosphere. Enjoy!
1. You started out with a Bachelors in Science before getting your Masters in Arts. With how notionally difficult it is to break into writing, what prompted you to pursue your dream to write?
I started writing my first book during my sophomore year as an undergrad. I was a psychology major, which required a significant amount of writing. It segued nicely into a writing career. And it was the encouragement of one of my professors that prompted me to pursue writing as a career. She read many of my psychology papers and always had such wonderful things to say about my writing. It was the push I needed.
2. What draws you to the romance genre in particular?
I love the idea of a happily ever after. Despite what the characters may go through, knowing things will work out in the end is a comfort.
3. With the growing prevalence of African American authors in romance, you can argue it’s no longer a niche subsection of the genre. What are your thoughts on the increasing levels of representation?
Strides have been made in representation, but there is still such a long way to go in publishing. While more African American authors have been picked up by major publishers, I can still name each of the authors on their list. I’ll be satisfied when there are so many African American romance authors published that I can’t keep up with them.
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The Bloody Chamber (and Other Stories)
You know how darker, sexier retellings of fairytales are all the rage?
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Well you have Angela Carter to thank for that subgenre in fairytale retellings with her collection of short stories that subvert and invert these popular tales to pay homage to their darker origins while making it slyly progressive. Putting the females in peril and also able to get themselves out of distress. Going as to far to embrace the primal and dark.
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