May Book Review: Mosquitoland by David Arnold

Book stats (from Amazon):

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers (March 3 2015)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 045147077X
• ISBN-13: 978-0451470775
• Amazon rating: 4.2/5 stars
• Goodreads rating: 3.9/5 stars

    To be honest, I haven't enjoyed a book as much as I enjoyed Mosquitoland in quite a while. I'm a sucker for a good literary, coming-of-age style novel. Don't get me wrong, I love genre fiction too, but there's just something about the (somewhat) realistic stories that get me every time.
    Mosquitoland's protagonist is a 16-year-old girl named Mary Iris Malone - but only her mother calls her Mary. Everyone else calls her Mim. I'm going to come right out and address it - a lot of the other reviews I've read of this book claim Mim doesn't exhibit enough growth by the end of the book, claiming she's still too judgemental and hasn't seemed to have learned a lot. I don't think this should be a detriment to the quality of the book, however. Mim learns the important lessons about herself and her family that she needs to learn, and if she isn't completely 'cured' of her tendency to be rude/blunt and a bit judgemental, I think this makes it more realistic. In my opinion, it just isn't realistic for a teenager to suddenly learn their entire worldview is wrong and change it. Mim drastically changes her opinions of her family and many other people by the end of the novel, and as such I think she displays as much character growth as can be realistic for a teenager.
    I think, overall, Mim is a great character. She's a little rude at times, sure, but she's also immensely entertaining, loyal to her friends, and determined to accomplish what she set out to do. To be honest, I related to her almost immediately - I don't have a single doubt that I'd run across the country too if I thought there was something wrong with my mother and I wasn't there to help her. Mim is one of those people who says what many people are thinking; she has the comebacks, humour, and mannerisms that most people wish they could come up with or would have the guts to say out loud. She has some strange quirks - for example, her 'war paint' - but I think this served to make her more relatable and contributed to her character development (I can't go into too much detail without spoiling, but the 'war paint' I think symbolizes how Mim is still holding on to some idealized version of her mother, which makes sense in light of the ending).
    I really liked the other characters too. Walt especially was a great character, although I wish he'd had a bit more 'screen-time' and been developed a bit more. Two of my absolute favourite characters were Albert and Ahab, even though they are only in one chapter - it's a bit like being that parent who cheers every time their child is onstage in their school play, even though they're playing Tree #4.
   It's difficult to discuss the plot without spoiling, but I love the 'road trip' story, especially with quirky and unique characters, and I think this plot had just the right amount of twists to keep it interesting. The way the narrative switches from a traditional format to Mim's letters to Isabel from time to time is also really interesting and helps provide backstory and more internal monologue without breaking up the flow of the story too much.
    Overall, this story is definitely not for everyone. There probably are a few elements that will offend some people, and some elements that are quite dark, but I'd recommend it to anyone age 14 and up.
    4.5/5 stars!

April "Book Review": Two of My Favourite Childhood Series

    In lieu of my usual book review, I decided to do something a little different for April. I'm going to be talking about two of my favourite book series from my childhood and how they affected me as a writer and a person.You may have already heard of them, or maybe they're new to you, but I'm hopeful you'll find a new series that interests you, or maybe go back and reread some of your old childhood favourites.

The Artemis Fowl Series by Eoin Colfer

    These books were a huge part of my life for years. I literally obsessed. I still have all of them lined up in order on one of my bookshelves, along with the companion book and the graphic novels. I wore a tinfoil helmet (which I decorated with paper and packing tape) around my house for years, because one of my favourite characters, a genius centaur named Foley, wore one.
    I think this series was one of the first times I remember myself honestly falling in love with a character - not the usual, fangirling, 'OMG I could marry this character' sort of falling in love. I don't really know how to explain it, other than that I just felt I really connected with these characters. To be honest, I'm not sure why my parents weren't more concerned about their daughter running around in tinfoil helmets and empathizing with a preteen/teenage criminal mastermind, but there we go. The more I think about it, the more I cringe at how creepily utterly obsessed I was with this series, but that's coupled with a feeling of nostalgia and I may end up binge-reading all of the books at some point in the near future.
    For the sake of this not becoming an incoherent fangirlish ramble, I'll refrain from telling anymore stories about how obsessed I was with this series, and try to explain how I think it's affected me as a writer. I think the biggest effect it had on me was the love it gave me for antiheroes. Don't get me wrong, I love the good-hearted hero, but I've always had an affinity for the darker, less obviously 'good' heroes - usually referred to as antiheroes. I didn't really realize the source until I started working on this post, actually - but when I think about it, it makes perfect sense that Artemis Fowl would have been the beginning of this. Another thing I absolutely loved about this series and wanted to emulate was everything the way Colfer works magic into the realistic world he builds in his novel. Everything about it seemed believable - even if it's impossible, it still makes logical sense that it could be happening.
    Overall, this series is one of my all-time favourites, and I would (and do) recommend it to anyone who loves a good fantasy story with a bit of sci-fi mixed in.

The Septimus Heap Series by Angie Sage

    This series was another one that I followed for years, waiting eagerly for each new book and in most cases getting it the day it came out. I've heard this series called a rip-off of Harry Potter before, and while it definitely did capitalize on the popularity of magic at the time, I don't think it can be called a rip-off. I loved this series, and I really felt like I was growing up alongside the characters (which, in a way, I was). Something I loved about this series (and the Artemis Fowl books) is that as the series goes on and the fanbase grows older along with the characters, the books gradually become darker, for lack of a better word. What I mean by this is that the stories get more intense, the stakes get higher, the characters more complicated. This is something I absolutely love in series, because not only does it hold the readers' attention as they get older and prevents the series from becoming too 'childish', but it also really adds depth to the series by representing (to me at least) the way the characters are also growing up and realizing people are complex and the world is often more than just black and white, good and evil. Maybe I'm over-analyzing it, but it's something I really enjoy,

    This series really sent me into a fantasy craze - I don't write much fantasy anymore, but the character-building and the tension of the plot that is so evident in this series still has stuck with me. If you're looking for a series with quite a few good twists and an amazingly rich world populated with fascinating characters, this series would be a great place to start.

     Of course, this isn't all of my favourite childhood book series (not by a long shot), but for the sake of time and how late this post already is, I'll save some for a future post and end here. I hope you enjoyed; leave a comment telling me about some of your favourite books or series and if I haven't read them yet I will and maybe review them here!