Many of you know how excited I have been about judging this book battle. I even read 3 of the 4 possible books for my section and still plan on reading the other one. I got a lot of great book ideas from the 24 books chosen for the 2011 Best Overlooked Book Battle. (overlooked in young adult literature.) You can make your own predictions or just get some book ideas like I did. Here is the starting bracket:
I was so pleased with the books that were chosen. Here is my take on the two:
Intrinsical
by, Lani Woodland
YA, 2010
Intrinsical by Lani Woodland - This book is about a girl named Yara Silva. She is attending a private school and discovering her abilities as a Waker, a person that can see and interact with ghosts.
I was hooked from the start. It kept me intrigued and made me read it in 24 hours. It was a nice paced, intense read that was not as heavy and depressing as I thought it would be. It had a nice blend of creepy, humor and romance.
A's Take - Intrinsical avoids the whole, end of the world scenario, in fact most of the action is contained in one private school campus. The more I got into it, the more I was intrigued. Despite my best efforts, dang it, I cared about the characters. I wanted them to work it all out. I admit that I found some of the romantic notes rather cheesy, but it didn't pull me out of the book. Though I anticipated some of the reveals, the pacing was tight and I was pulled along by the roller coaster ride the protagonist was forced to endure.
Grade - A
A's Grade - A
Worthy of being overlooked? No. However, the book is super hard to obtain. It was not in my library system, which includes 12+ branches. I could not find it at Borders or Barnes and Noble. It was on Amazon, but that meant waiting for it to ship. We opted for the Kindle route since it was quick and we wanted to get our review in. In that regard it needs to be more accessible. The editor/agent needs to do better in promoting it. I really wish I had a hard copy to pass around. I think if you could see this book on the shelf and not have to really want to read it and know about it before it would be a best seller.
Versus
The Grimm Legacy
by, Polly Shulman
YA, 2010
The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman - As I have stated already, I was glad this one made it past the first bracket. The concept is very original. Friend deprived and neglected at home, Elizabeth Rew gets a job at a library in New York. This is not a regular library for books. One can check out items like a hot chocolate service, fondue pot, a chess set, home decor, etc. The part that intrigues her the most is the Grimm Collection. The items in there inspired many fairy tales and actually still work. 12 pair of worn out dancing shoes, check. Glass slippers, check. But what can she do when things start disappearing?
I enjoyed the book. But, I did not feel the need to keep reading and neglect all else. When I can't put it down, that is when I know I love it. The concept was fun, but it made me feel lost at times when I didn't know the fairy tales to which she referred. The characters were likeable but kind of bland and predictable. The book went up and down when it came to interesting. However, the last 100 pages of the book were pretty intense and kept me reading. There were some fun twists and turns in the plot. It was enjoyable and lighthearted despite action. A definite read again book for me.
A says - The Grimm Legacy has a great concept, but doesn't really execute it well. For the level of potential, I didn't feel like they had nearly the spectacular toy scenes that they could have. The characters seemed to be a bit unrelatable to me as well. I honestly just didn't care about them as much as I would have liked. They weren't as vibrant and alive as I want my characters to be. Having said that, I did like that this wasn't an apocalyptic, end of the world kind of threat. It could have easily gone there and it was nice to see that there can be real threats to people that don't include the destruction of all of humanity.
Grade - B
A's Grade - B-
Worthy of being overlooked? No. It is an original take on the fairy tale retellings so prevalent on the market right now. I had so much fun reading it and even had a few laugh out loud moments. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone that likes fairy tales or fantasy literature.
And the Winner is...
Intrinsical
Final Thoughts:
Me - I went in without any preference. In fact, if I am honest, I wanted The Grimm Legacy to win for the sake of the next round judges. ;) But, Lani Woodland told a good story.
A says - Going into this thing, I honestly wanted the Grimm Legacy to win. The idea of being able to use artifacts from the Grimm fairy tales was really appealing to me. I admit I knew pretty much nothing about Intrinsical and the fact that it was priced at $20 in print was a pretty big turn off for me.
But I couldn't hold to that after reading the books.
But I couldn't hold to that after reading the books.
I won't say that Intrinsical completely TKOed The Grimm Legacy, I have to say it was a pretty decisive victory. I loved the idea of The Grimm Legacy, but Intrinsical was definitely the better of the two books. Now, if only the publisher could see fit to lower the price, I think they'd have a very successful book on the market.
