The Graveyard Book
by Neil Gaiman
320pp (Paperback)
My Rating: 9/10
Amazon Rating: 5/5
LibraryThing Rating: 4.51/5
Goodreads Rating: 4.44/5

The Graveyard Book is the latest from Neil Gaiman, perhaps best known for the novel American Gods and the Sandman graphic novels. This most recent offering is a stand alone young adult novel with illustrations by Dave McKean or Chris Riddell (depending on which version of the book you have). Although this story is marketed toward a younger audience, it is a charming tale that readers of all ages can enjoy.

The story begins with a murderer, climbing the stairs with a knife, in search of his final victim – a mere toddler. (Believe me, it really is charming.) Having just killed the other members of the child’s family, the man peers into the crib and prepares to complete his mission only to discover the figure he saw was a teddy bear instead of the child. The young boy, ingrained with a curious nature and a love for climbing out of his crib, was awakened by the commotion and crawled out of his room and house to the nearby graveyard. He is soon followed by his would-be killer, who is prevented from carrying out his plan when Mr. and Mrs. Owens, two ghosts who never had a child of their own, adopt the boy as their own and protect him. The child is named Nobody (Bod for short) and given the Freedom of the Graveyard. Since the ghosts cannot leave their burial place, the mysterious man Silas who is neither alive nor dead is appointed Bod’s guardian to ensure he has the necessities. Bod grows up among the denizens of the cemetery and learns about what it means to be alive (and dead) from them.


The Graveyard Book is a fairly quick read, around 300 pages long with quite a few lovely illustrations (I have the edition by Dave McKean). It contains eight chapters and one interlude and each section seems like a short story. This does not mean there is no overall conclusion to the story or that characters introduced in a chapter are no longer referenced later. It does mean that each chapter tends to focus on one main storyline with a beginning, middle, and end that keeps them feeling self-contained even though they are part of a larger story. Even though I’m not normally a fan of short fiction, I thought this format worked really well since it made it easy to read a chapter before going to sleep and then pick up where you left off later. Yet I still had difficulty putting this one down when I should have been sleeping because it was absorbing.

A book beginning with the near-murder of a one and a half year old child and the actual murder of the rest of his family may sound rather dreary. To an extent it is dark, but most of Bod’s story is lighter than this even though most of the other characters are deceased. There are chilling moments but there are touching ones and humorous ones as well. The pacing is excellent since there is never a dull moment even though it is not always “fast-paced” since part of the focus is on friendship and growing up instead of just on learning about the graveyard and its inhabitants.

The only character who is developed is Bod, the main character and the only one who is really qualifies as a primary presence in the story. He has a naturally inquisitive nature that can make his conversations a lot of fun to read about, such as when he met a living child whose father unfortunately taught particle physics, a field in which too many wanted to teach and too few wanted to learn.

“What’s particle physics?” asked Bod.

Scarlett shrugged. “Well,” she said. “There’s atoms, which is things that is too small too see, that’s what we’re all made of. And there’s things that’s smaller than atoms, and that’s particle physics.”

Bod nodded and decided that Scarlett’s father was probably interested in imaginary things.

The Graveyard Book is fantastic storytelling containing both humor and seriousness, fantasy and reality. There is something to love for readers of all ages. Highly recommended.

9/10

David Louis Edelman, author of Infoquake and Multireal, wrote this article on what he likes to see in a review as an author. I found it rather interesting and think his criteria are good ones to strive for.

I found this on Post-Weird Thoughts today and am glad I did since I may have missed it otherwise.

Now off to write The Graveyard Book review so I can have it ready for Halloween!

Oct
28
2008

Being the Amazon addict I am, I logged on today to discover the new cover art for Corambis is up! Corambis is the fourth book in Sarah Monette’s riveting “The Doctrine of Labyrinth” series and is scheduled for release on April 7 of 2009. To read a brief description of the book, go here.

The previous books in this series were my absolute favorite books of this year, so I am very much looking forward to this one. It’s definitely my most anticipated book of 2009.

Elizabeth Bear’s latest novel and the first book in The Edda of Burdens series, All the Windwracked Stars, comes out tomorrow. This is her first hardcover novel other than A Companion to Wolves, co-written with Sarah Monette (which I think is fantastic since all her books I’ve read so far are ones I’d want in hardcover). Chapter One is available here and the next two chapters are linked from the bottom of the page. Happy reading!

Oct
27
2008

Since Friday is Halloween, I decided it was a good time to read and review the newest from Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book. If you are a fan of his, don’t wait for the review to read the book! I absolutely loved it and it was my favorite of his novels I’ve read so far. (Other than that one, those would be Neverwhere, Stardust, Anansi Boys, and Good Omens, the novel he co-wrote with Terry Pratchett. I have not yet read American Gods; I know that’s a tragedy of epic proportions, especially since it is on my bookshelf. Of course, I’ve read all of Sandman, but that was incredible and surpasses any of the novels.)

Right now, I am a little more than halfway through The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt, which will be the next book reviewed. After that, the next books I read will be The Jackal of Nar by John Marco and All the Windwracked Stars by Elizabeth Bear. Then there will probably be some space opera but I still have Nation on the to-read pile so that’s a possibility too.

Ink and Steel
by Elizabeth Bear
448pp (Paperback)
My Rating: 8.5/10
Amazon Rating: 4.5/5
LibraryThing Rating: 4.86/5
Goodreads Rating: 3.85/5

“The Stratford Man” is the title of the two newest books in Elizabeth Bear’s “Promethean Age” series, Ink and Steel and Hell and Earth. These two novels were supposed to be one book, but the finished story was too long for that and had to be split into two. Although there are two previous books in the Promethean Age series (Blood and Iron and Whiskey and Water), these take place after the newer two books and can be read either before or after as long as the first book in each duology is read before its sequel. I would recommend that readers interested in history and literature, Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Elizabethan times begin with Ink and Steel and those who enjoy mythology or stories taking place in modern settings begin with Blood and Iron. “The Stratford Man” duology is the more polished, stronger set although I personally enjoyed Blood and Iron the most of any of the books in this series.

Ink and Steel begins with the death of Kit Marley, who was murdered for his service to Queen Elizabeth as a member of the Prometheus Club. Soon after he is killed, his roommate and fellow writer Will Shakespeare is tested for his allegiance to the queen and found worthy of succeeding Kit by writing magical plays to inspire loyalty toward her. Will is taken to meet the rest of the Prometheus Club and discovers that Francis Walsingham, believed dead for 3 years is still alive and part of the order. With the knowledge of his predecessor’s fate, Will reluctantly agrees to write plays for them due to his loyalty to Queen Elizabeth.

Meanwhile, Kit awakens in Faerie where he has been saved by the Faerie Queen as a favor to Elizabeth. He is knighted by Morgan le Fey, who tended his wounds and gave him a drink – meaning he can not return the mortal world permanently. Kit now must trade his fealty to Queen Elizabeth to the Mebd, the queen of Faerie. However, in a world in which “All stories are true” the two faerie queens represent each other and supporting the reign of one strengthens the reign of the other. Kit returns to the mortal world when he can, reveals himself to the rest of the Prometheus Club, and remains influential in politics in both realms.

Hell and Earth
by Elizabeth Bear
432pp (Paperback)
My Rating: 8.75/10
Amazon Rating: 5/5
LibraryThing Rating: 4.85/5
Goodreads Rating: 4.21/5

“The Stratford Man” is split up into five acts with each act containing a number of scenes. Ink and Steel contains the first three acts and Hell and Earth contains the latter two. Each section has a quote from Shakespeare’s plays or sonnets or Marlowe’s plays.

As can be expected from Elizabeth Bear, the prose is exquisite and descriptive without being verbose. The dialogue is often clever and speech is written in a way that feels like Olde English without being authentic (and is therefore not as difficult to parse). A few words that were not modern day English were included but there was normally enough context to guess what they meant. The other Promethean Age books also have a rich vocabulary and part of the fun in reading them is looking up the words or references I don’t know or would like to know more about.

Although the afterword says that these books are not historically accurate, there are plenty of characters from the time period and Bear ties several theories about the life of Christopher Marlowe into the tale, such as speculation that his death was faked, he was an atheist, a spy for the queen, a homosexual, and a magician. The story also embellishes on real events, such as Marlowe’s near failure to be allowed to graduate for possibly attending a Catholic college until it is revealed that he was performing a service for his country.

These two books were tighter and more mature than the two previous “Promethean Age” novels. I enjoyed the characters, mythological references, dark feel, and prose in Blood and Iron immensely, but felt that Whiskey and Water was weaker, particularly in the vast number of characters that had spotlight. As in the first book in the series, these two contain a vast number of characters including many Englishman from the time and well-known legends such as Morgan le Fey, Puck, and Lucifer. However, the main focus is on the two characters of Kit Marley and Will Shakespeare, which made for a much better story. Both of them are well-developed characters one can identify with and care about and their dilemmas are truly tragic.

“The Stratford Man” duology is not a light read but is an immensely satisfying one with rich prose, deep characters, political maneuvering, and lots of imagination. I hope the rest of the planned books in this series are eventually written and published.

8.75/10

Excerpts from Ink and Steel:
Prologue
Act I Scene I
Act I Scene II
Act I Scene III

Reviews of other books in this series:
Blood and Iron
Whiskey and Water