Book review: Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

Young adult fiction has experienced quite the renaissance in recent years as it merged with the realms of fantasy and science fiction. Tales of wizards, witches, fairies, vampires, werewolves, banshees and even angels abound and the market has been left gasping for more magical creatures.

Maria V Snyder's Study Trilogy is slightly different. Published on Harlequin Teen's popular Mira INK imprint, the Study Trilogy is a fantasy romance series set in the mythical kingdom of Ixia and neighbouring Sitia.

Poison Study opens with Yelena in chains in a dark dungeon with nothing to distract her from the horrifying memories that haunt her.  Yelena has killed a man and under the laws of Ixia, no mitigating circumstances can save her as murder is punishable by death. She has spent a year confined to the dungeons of the castle where the Commander of Ixia, Commander Ambrose, and his troops are based.  Her time is up though and she is scheduled to be the next prisoner to hang. 

Yelena is dragged through the castle and brought before Commander Ambrose’s security chief Valek who offers her a choice.  She can pay for her crime and be hanged, or she can become Commander Ambrose's chief food taster.

In a world of intrigue, sabotage and poison, it is not much of a reprieve as Yelena could be fatally poisoned at any moment but she grasps at the chance to live and begins to train under Valek. Valek is an expert assassin and is also an expert in the detection of sabotage and subterfuge.  He imparts his valuable knowledge on poisons and poisonous substances which Yelena must learn quickly or face the fatal consequences.

As Yelena begins to make friends and allies, she also begins to make enemies and must choose carefully who she trusts. The biggest threat comes from General Brazell, as it was his only son that Yelena admitted murdering. As this threat manifests and whispers of an uprising emerge, the horrific details of the events leading up to Reyad's death emerge.

Poison Study is a deeply imaginative story and I felt thoroughly emerged in the life, politics and culture of the palace and Territories of Ixia.  Maria V. Snyder has created a complex and interesting world and I thoroughly enjoyed reading as she described in intricate detail the structure of the military oligarchy as well as the levels of organisation within the castle that must keep it going on a day to day basis. 

The author states that she had great fun acting out the complex fighting scenes in the book (she is trained in Issinryu karate); this is apparent as Yelena learns to fight and defend herself and the fight scenes are fast-paced and exciting.  Likewise, all of the various elements of the story add to a rich and multi-layered story including the description of fitness and acrobatics; food and food tasting; cleansing and ritual; and, of course, the castle and military life.

It is hard to believe that this book was written by the same author that wrote Inside Out (reviewed on Blogcritics in February).  Granted, both books are excellent stories set in complex societies; both Ixia and Inside are plagued by tyrannical, military-style rule where excessive levels of control are imposed on citizens; and both books feature a strong female protagonist.  The similarities end there though as Inside Out is a science fiction novel set in a future dystopia and Poison Study is a fantasy fiction set in a medieval kingdom far in our distant past.  The writing style is also completely different in the two books and I could barely recognise the author’s style even though I was reading the novels barely a month apart. 

This ability to create completely unique, imaginative yet believable worlds and to weave great stories within those worlds puts Maria V. Snyder up there with my favourite authors Anthony Horowitz and Garth Nix.  There is no doubt that I will soon be ploughing my way through Maria V. Snyder’s complete works and I cannot wait to begin Magic Study.

I read the UK edition of the book and I far prefer these covers to those found elsewhere around the world.  They are quite stunning and make a great set sitting on my bookshelf.  Your can see the cover of the UK edition at the top of this post and just above is the second of the US editions (the covers had to be redesigned as the original model moved back to Russia). 

I enjoyed every last page of Poison Study and would recommend it to fans of J K Rowling, Stephenie Meyer, Rachel Vincent, Julie Kagawa, Anthony Horowitz and Garth Nix.  I give Poison Study 5 out of 5 stars.

Buy Poison Study at Amazon.co.uk ¦ Amazon.com

Article first published as Book Review: Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder on Blogcritics.

Music Video: Garbage–“Queer”

 

I’ve always loved this song and remember watching the video back when MTV was still a novelty to me (we didn’t have MTV in South Africa until the mid-nineties).  The video above is the original version of the video and song and is not the remastered version that appeared later on MTV.

“Queer” was the third of five singles from their debut album Garbage and it is my favourite track on the album after “Milk”.  This was one of my favourite albums of the mid-nineties but strangely enough, I didn’t really rate any of their later albums.  Perhaps it is time I bought their greatest hits album Absolute Garbage?

Penguins Kill Polar Bears Offer Free Downloads

Sweeping soundscapes, reverb-laden guitars, searing hooks and vocals that pull at the heart strings.  This is the sound of Penguins Kill Polar Bears, a post-rock four-piece band hailing from Linlithgow in Scotland.  Featuring Ben Proudlock on guitars and vocals; Fraser Sanaghan on guitars; Gavin Cormack on bass; and Kieran McGuickan on drums, Penguins Kill Polar Bears have been together since 2008 and are renowned for their explosive and unmissable live performances.  Their experimental sound puts them right up there amongst post-rock masters such as Mogwai and Sigur Rós but leader singer Ben’s distinctive vocals set them apart.   Well, apart from having the best band name I have ever heard.

Penguins Kill Polar Bears’ first EP Dawn was released in June 2010 to critical acclaim and the follow up release Vessels and Veins was release on March 22nd, 2011.  This is powerful, emotional and dramatic music and is the type of EP that makes you want to play it over and over again until the band release a full-length album.  Luckily, the band are planning a full album release later in the year but in the meantime, they are offering two free downloads to promote the release of the EP Vessels and Veins:

Lungs (mp3)*

Wish With Worry (mp3)*

The entire EP is up for a limited time on Spinner's Listening Party but I would honestly say that this one is a keeper and well worth the purchase. 

You can catch up with Penguins Kill Polar Bears on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter or their website: PenguinsKillPolarBears.co.uk.

Download the Vessels & Veins EP from Amazon.com for just under $6.  The album is also available at Amazon.co.uk and iTunes

* This is a legal download provided by the PR company for us to post and share. If there is any question of an infringement of copyright, please contact me at TheMediaAddict at gmail dot com and I will remove links immediately. Affiliate links are used in this post.

Article first published as Penguins Kill Polar Bears Offer Free Downloads on Blogcritics.

Book review: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Have you ever reached the end of a book and enjoyed it so much that you simply wanted to start over again? That was my experience on finishing Rebecca Stead's remarkable novel When You Reach Me. Not only was it so good that I didn’t want the story to end, this is also a book where the end is the beginning and time is simply circular.

When You Reach Me is a short children's book aimed at readers aged twelve and over. It is set in New York City in the 1970s and features sixth grader Miranda whose life has recently started to fall apart. At the heart of the novel is a sequence of unsettling and puzzling events that change Miranda's perception of the world around her. Miranda's best friend Sal is punched in the face by another kid for no apparent reason and he subsequently shuts her out of his life. In addition, Miranda begins to receive strange notes and the secret key that Miranda’s mother keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen.

As the reader begins to piece together the puzzle that makes up the story, Miranda makes new friends and she builds upon her obsession with the time-travelling novel A Wrinkle in Time . As the notes increasingly include information that the writer should not possibly know, Miranda comes to believe that only she can prevent a tragic death.  That is until the last note has her believing that she is too late.

When You Reach Me is a New York Times best seller and the winner of the John Newbery Award 2010 plus a host of other awards. I could not find any fault in this book whatsoever and enjoyed it immensely. I especially appreciated the depiction of New York City in the 1970s with its apartment blocks, community schools and the emerging socio-political awareness of everyday citizens. Although it is short at 203 pages, this is a powerful coming-of-age story that addresses several important themes and issues while remaining fun and enjoyable to read.

With its subtle approach to friendship, growing up, social justice, racism and stereotyping, this is a perfect book to prescribe to young children, both boys and girls but I would heartily recommend it adults too. Like A Wrinkle in Time which provides so much of the inspiration for this story, I can imagine that this book could become a firm favourite with young readers and one that they will want to read again and again.  I give this novel five out of five stars and will certainly be seeking out other works by Rebecca Stead.

Buy When You Reach me at Amazon.co.uk¦ Amazon.com

Article first published as Book Review: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead on Blogcritics.

Music Video: Cake–“I Will Survive” (live)

I love the Cake version of the old Gloria Gaynor classic “I Will Survive” but my heart breaks just a little every time I listen to it so I don’t get around to listening to it very often.  It reminds me of a very unhappy time in my life which is thankfully a lifetime away now.

I’m not a fan of Cake’s other stuff (except for one or two other tracks on Fashion Nugget) but this video is great in that it shows just how talented the band really are and I love the trumpet and guitar solos in this song.  Perhaps I should listen to more of their stuff?

The Chemical Brothers Score Hanna Soundtrack

Director Joe Wright is famous for his stunning adaptations of Atonement and Pride & Prejudice.  True to the original novels, the films were notable for their beauty and cinematography, earning Wright Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations in best film and direction categories.  Now Wright takes a break from adaptation and period drama to return with the highly anticipated adventure thriller Hanna.

Starring Saoirse Ronan (Lovely Bones, Atonement), sixteen-year-old Hanna has been raised by her father Erik (Erik Bana), an ex-CIA man, to be the perfect assassin.  She has lived alone with her widower father in the wilds of North Finland all of her life, learning to hunt and defend herself, and has been home-schooled using only an encyclopedia and a book of fairy tales.  When she is separated from her father, Hanna must embark on a deadly mission across Europe and escape the clutches of ruthless intelligent agent Marissa (Cate Blanchett) and her operatives.

Hanna was filmed on location in Europe and Morocco and features beautiful cinematography and incredible vistas of mountainous, snowy landscapes.  Against the backdrop of action and adventure, the film features a brilliant score by the talented and critically acclaimed electronic duo, The Chemical Brothers. 

The soundtrack to the film was released today and is exclusively available on iTunes.  It features an impressive 20 original tracks by The Chemical Brothers, including both of the haunting and electronic tunes that you can hear in the trailer and you can listen to both “Container Park” and “The Devil Is In The Beats” on SoundCloud.

Hanna will be released in theatres on 8 April 2011.  Buy Hanna (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) from iTunes

Article first published as The Chemical Brothers Score Hanna Soundtrack on Blogcritics.

Music Video: The Prodigy – “Invaders Must Die”

Back in 1996, I used to take myself off to the local music shop every Saturday morning to enquire about the latest news regarding the latest The Prodigy album.  I had loved the 1994 album Music For the Jilted Generation and thought the teaser single “Firestarter” was brilliant and I just wanted more.  When The Fat of the Land was finally released in 1997, I wasn’t disappointed either (except for the dodgy lyrics and title of “Smack My Bitch Up”).  In fact, it has some of the most incredible examples of electronic music I have ever heard, notably “Mindfields” and “Climbatize”.

Imagine my disappointment then when Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned was released and I hated it.  I don’t tend to waste my precious time writing bad reviews when an album makes my ears bleed, I delete half of the songs from my iPod and use the original CD case as a coffee coaster.  It seemed as if The Prodigy sound had regressed to the early 1992 sound of their debut album Experience which was ground breaking in 1992 but tired and hackneyed by 2004.  And ear-bleed-inducing.

The relevance of all of this musing is that I had been so disappointed with the album that I had simply never listened to the 2009 release Invaders Must Die.  That is until this week, of course. 

I read a comment on Last.fm where a fan of Does It Offend You, Yeah? was equating the brilliance of their new album Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You to what he thought of as his favourite album of all time, Invaders Must Die.  Unaware that The Prodigy had released anything of that calibre since 1994, I finally gave the album a listen and I have to admit that it is good.  Really, really good. 

I personally hold each one of my friends and family responsible for not forcing me to listen to this album earlier but I guess the important thing is that I’ve discovered it now and that is all that matters.

You can buy the Invaders Must Die (2 CD/DVD/Booklet - Special Edition) from Amazon.co.uk for just £5; the Invaders Must Die (Deluxe Version) from iTunes or the standard release from Amazon.com.

Music Review: Does It Offend You, Yeah? – Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You

Artist: Does It Offend You, Yeah? Album: Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You Label: Cooking Vinyl  Release date: 14 March 2011 Genre: Dance-punk Rating: 5/5 stars

 

It has been a long wait for fans of British dance-punk band Does It Offend You, Yeah?  Their debut album You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into was released in March 2008 and after two years of touring, promoting and recording, fans had expected the follow-up album in mid-2010.  The band began dropping new material at concerts throughout 2010 and even gave away a free single in August 2010 but the release date for the new album got pushed out first to January then March 2011.  Well, the wait is finally over and Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You is due out on March 14 in the UK and March 15 in the United States.

Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You opens with “We Are the Dead” which was the free single given away in August 2010.  A sedate, indie opening gives way to a raucous, stomping anthem intended to resurrect the band and, indeed, wake the dead.  Lead vocalist James Rushent explains: “It’s about reincarnation and regeneration. Coming back from the dead. That’s why we picked it as our first free giveaway, to say we’re still alive.”  “We Are The Dead” is a massive track and certainly one of my favourites on the album. 

Next up is “John Hurt”, so named because it was originally intended that John Hurt appear on the track before a particularly useless ex-manager missed his window with the actor.  Initially taking a break from the mayhem of the previous track, “John Hurt” is a menacing and angry track that descends once again into pure chaos.  While playing this album to death over the past couple of days, it is this track that has been in my head when I have woken up each morning.  It is sheer brilliance and one can only hope that the band finally get together with John Hurt in the future and issue a remix.

The third track on the album “Pull Out My Insides” confounds me.  I’ve listened to it repeatedly but just can’t bring myself to care for it.  Ironically, it is the most accessible track on the album and the one most likely to do well on radio.  It is a bitter track that attacks the mainstream and speaks of the band’s struggle as they fought their record label for creative freedom and ultimately signed with independent labels like Cooking Vinyl and The End. 

The album recovers with electronic romp “Yeah!” which sounds like a psychedelic B-movie theme and “The Monkeys Are Coming”, the first single on the album.  Both are loud, energetic tracks which will bring the roof down on their already crazy live gigs.  Despite their loudness, these tracks are eclipsed somewhat by the brilliance of the sensual, slow-burning track “Wrong Time Wrong Planet”.  This song is pure, aural bliss and has the sexiest bassline I’ve heard in a long time.  By the end of the track, you can’t help but agree that “we all should be living in outer space”.

“Wrestler” begins with a sample from wrestling movie Beyond the Mat featuring Paul Heyman as he delivers his galvanising speech which ends in “because believe me, this is the dance!”  “Wrestler” is a phenomenal track and I dare anyone to try listen to it without bouncing around and dancing to it.  This is Does It Offend You, Yeah? at their best, smashing all attempts to pigeon-hole them into any one genre and delivering cracking tunes.  My only complaint about this track?  It is far too short and I look forward to an extended 9-minute version of the track.

Not that you can be disappointed for too long as “Wrestler” melts into the next track “Wondering”.  The track has rapper Trip on guest vocals and features a sample of the Massive Attack track “Sly” featuring the stunning Nicolette Suwoton.  This track features some great lyrics including “I see dead people ‘cause I see shared needles” and “holy jihads, Batman, someone should do something” against the sample of Nicolette singing “wondering, is this there all there is? Since I was, since I began to be”.

It took me many, many listens to finally ‘get’ the penultimate track “The Knife”.  Like “Pull Out My Insides”, it is one of the more accessible, mainstream tracks on the album and seemed too indie rock for me at first (bearing in mind that I am usually a great fan of indie rock). It is at 2:32 minutes into the song that it erupts into something far less ordinary though and the song is redeemed by a multi-layered and energetic climax.  Likewise, the first time I listened to the final track, “Broken Arms”, I thought that the album had begun to unravel at that point.  Like the opening track, it opens with an acoustic, introspective feel and then it builds into the most powerful, incredible track.   Ultimately, “Broken Arms” is epic and it is a fitting end to the album.

Despite not liking “Pull Out My Insides”, I would still give this album five out of five stars as the rest of the songs were that good.  This is a strong second album that moves far beyond the fun and games of You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into and moves Does It Offend You, Yeah? into the realm of artists to be watched in the future.  I certainly don’t think it is too soon to proclaim this as my album of the year for 2011.

Buy Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You at Amazon.co.uk¦ Amazon.com¦ iTunes

Article written by me and first published as Music Review: Does It Offend You, Yeah? – Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You on Blogcritics.

Music Video: The Bloody Beetroots–“Domino”

I think it is safe to say that The Bloody Beetroots were my discovery of the week last week.  I went from never having heard of them before to playing this song about 40 times by Friday morning.  I love everything about this song from the dramatic, long introduction to the break out of mayhem at 1:40 and the chanting of “Bloody Beetroots”.  I’d go as far as saying this song is epic and I have no doubt I’ll play it to death in coming weeks.  In the meantime, I’d certainly recommend the Domino EP.

Download: The Whip - “Muzzle #1 (The Bloody Beetroots Remix)”

The Bloody Beetroots have been tearing up the dance music circuit since 2007 but it was only when they remixed one of my favourite tracks that I finally paid them some attention.  Hailing from Vicenza, Italy, The Bloody Beetroots are indie music producer Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo and DJ Tommy Tea.  Known for their raucous live gigs and distinctive Venom masks, The Bloody Beetroots have remixed the likes of Robyn, MSTRKRFT, Tiga, Groove Armada and Shitdisco.  They like to push the boundaries of dance music and remix across a variety of genres including Big Beat, New Rave, Dance Punk and Electropop. 

For the first time, 18 of these remixes (plus another five digital-only tracks) are available on one album as The Bloody Beetroots release Best Of… Remixes on Dim Mak Records.  To mark the release of this massive collection, The Bloody Beetroots are offering two of their remixes for download:

The Whip - "Muzzle #1 (The Bloody Beetroots Remix)" (mp3)*

The Chemical Brothers – "Dissolve (The Bloody Beetroots Remix)" (mp3)*

 

The Whip’s “Muzzle #1” is one of my favourite tracks of all time and it was this remix that finally alerted me to the brilliance that is The Bloody Beetroots. 

When they are not remixing other artists and touring, The Bloody Beetroots record their own music which is really quite good.  Tracks to look out for are “Butter” and “Domino”. 

The Bloody Beetroots links:

The Bloody Beetroots @ MySpace

The Bloody Beetroots @ Twitter

 

Buy The Bloody Beetroots Best Of… Remixes at Amazon.co.uk¦ Amazon.com

Buy The Bloody Beetroots Domino (Spares Of Romborama Pt.2) at Amazon.com

 

* This is a legal download provided by the PR company for us to post and share. If there is any question of an infringement of copyright, please contact me at TheMediaAddict at gmail dot com and I will remove links immediately. Affiliate links are used in this post.

Article first published as The Bloody Beetroots Offer Free Downloads on Blogcritics.

Book Review: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

The Vel' d'Hiv was the darkest hour in France’s involvement in the Second World War.  On July 16 and 17, 1942, the French police began a roundup of 13,152 Jewish men, women and children living in Paris.  The families were kept in appalling conditions at the Velodrome d'Hiver before being sent to internment camps within France and finally being sent to Auschwitz.  The action was sanctioned by the Nazis but that level of coordination, identification and organisation would only have been possible with the cooperation of French police and government officials.  Quite simply, the Vel’ d’Hiv was part of a greater plan to reduce the number of Jewish people living in occupied France.

There were very few survivors of that fateful event in Paris.  Once they arrived at the internment camps such as Drancy and Beaune-la-Rolande, the men were immediately separated from the women and children and then the women were separated too.  In the end, all of the men, women and approximately 4,000 children were sent to Auschwitz.  There was no selection process for the children; they were sent straight to the gas chambers on arrival at Auschwitz.

It was a dark time in France’s history and something that was not spoken about or acknowledged by the French for years.  In fact, it was only in 1995 that the president Jacques Chirac stated that France needed to own up to their part in the roundups and to acknowledge their complicity with the Germans.

Against the backdrop of this momentous event, French author Tatiana de Rosnay has written the fictional novel Sarah’s Key.  Set in 2002, the novel is about an American journalist, Julia Jarmond, who is  living in Paris and is married to a Frenchman, Bertrand.  As the 60th anniversary of the Vel’ d’Hiv approaches, Julia is asked to write a piece about the events of 1942 and the upcoming commemorations.  As Julia begins to learn more about this event, she begins to uncover some painful secrets that Bertrand’s family had tried to keep hidden for sixty years.  The deeper Julia digs, the more obsessed she becomes and everything comes to a head when she learns that she is pregnant.

Running parallel to Julia’s story in modern day Paris, de Rosnay tells the story of ten-year-old Sarah Starzynski.  The story begins in 1942 in an atmosphere of fear and terror as the police knock on Sarah’s door one day to take the family away.  Her parents had never quite told Sarah the nature of the anti-Semitic threat but acting on instinct, she hides her little brother in a cupboard and swears she will come back for him.  Sarah’s story continues as de Rosnay describes in intricate detail the roundups and transportation to the Velodrome d'Hiver and the subsequent journey to and internment in the Beaune-la-Rolande camp.

These two stories collide in modern day Paris and it would be impossible to say more without giving away some of the crucial twists in the tale.  I found Sarah’s Key to be an incredibly touching and powerful novel.  The privilege and fortune of modern life, the choices we are able to make, and the freedoms that we enjoy are contrasted against the injustice and horror of the Holocaust and this makes de Rosnay’s descriptions of the events all the more remarkable.  I simply could not put this book down and experienced great indignity on several occasions as the novel reduced me to tears on a packed commuter train. 

One of the aspects that I most enjoyed of the book was that none of de Rosnay’s characters are perfect (except, perhaps, for her 11-year-old daughter).  Julia is certainly not perfect and she makes several almost unforgiveable errors of judgement in the book.  While some readers might question the way that Julia was portrayed, I actually appreciated that a character might make the same stupid mistakes as any other person.  This added to the realism in the novel and certainly helped me to identify with Julia.  Similarly, this is a book that does not turn out as expected and there are very few simple, happy endings in the story.  While I am certain that I could have avoided some publicly shed tears, I do appreciate that the author avoided wrapping the story up with a big, happy ending. 

There are many themes that are raised in Sarah’s Key including the role of normal Parisians during the Second World War; resistance and collaboration; loyalty, mercy and betrayal.  I touched on the idea of freedom, not only from persecution, but the freedoms that women enjoy in the modern age.  Some of the choices that Julia makes in the novel would have been impossible back in 1942.  Ultimately, this is a story about love and the choices that we make in the name of love.  It is also about survival and the difference between living and existing.

Sarah’s Key is a great book club novel as it certainly opens up discussions while teaching people more about France’s role in the Second World War.  It is certainly a book that has divided readers but I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to anybody.  In fact, as I finished the book, I drove right on over to my mother’s house and insisted that she read it too.  Five out of five stars.

Buy Sarah’s Key at Amazon.com ¦ Amazon.co.uk

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Sarah’s Key has been made into a French-language film Elle s'appelait Sarah.  Directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner and starring Kristin Scott Thomas, the film has been released in France, Canada and Australia but there is no news of release dates in the USA or United Kingdom yet.

Article first published as Book Review: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay on Blogcritics.