28th October, 2008
I, Coriander by Sally Gardner
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Wouldn’t you like to own a pair of shoes that fit like it was made for you? Ah, how nice that would be! Coriander Hobie is one lucky kid. She receives a pair of silver shoes and they fit her perfectly. But then, there is another story altogether behind those pretty shoes.
In this book, Coriander tells her tale in seven parts. She also lights seven candles to represent each part and blows them off one by one as she finishes one part after another. Now this candle-blowing thing is really intriguing but I don’t understand what it means.
First, Coriander introduces herself (she was born in 1643) and her parents. Where they lived, how her parents met, how her mother could ‘cure’ the neighbours by recommending them to take some of her homemade remedies. Some people secretly called her mother a witch or a cunning woman but they still flock to her home to be treated.
Now one day, a package arrives for Coriander and what does she find in there? Why, it’s the pair of silver shoes that fit her so darn well. Unfortunately, her mother doesn’t allow her to wear them. Six-year-old Coriander who has fallen in love with the shoes just couldn’t understand why she wasn’t allowed to wear them. She knew that the shoes were made especially for her.
Unable to resist not being able to have those shoes, Coriander sneaks into her father’s room and discreetly wears them. She panics when she couldn’t take them off, as if they wouldn’t come off. Well, it was only temporary. The shoes acted normally after that and Coriander’s parents let her wear them freely.
After a while, something odd happened to Coriander’s mother. She died not much later and the family’s broken-hearted. To make matters worse, Coriander’s father is advised to take on a Puritan wife so that he can keep his properties. Mr. Hobie was supportive of the Royalist cause and the Royalists had lost the English Civil War.
Mr. Hobie’s new wife, Maud, is like the wife/step-mother from hell. She finds fault with almost everything and is set on making the house more Godly by removing and changing many things which she considers to be linked to witchcraft. She also brings a preacher, Arise Fell home and insists that he stay with them.
Arise Fell is definitely one person whom I would never like to meet! He’s an extremist, heartless, cunning, and just a really hated character in this book. I felt angry and sympathetic towards Coriander and the others who had to suffer from Arise Fell’s ‘hand of wrath’. He even forces Coriander to change her name to ‘Ann’ because Coriander is not a suitable name for a God-fearing person. Ridiculous!
You’ll enjoy reading I, Coriander as it’s magical and beautifully-written. The parts with Arise Fell were quite disturbing because he just seemed so cruel! He’s quite remarkable because he can influence people with what he preaches but things go too far when he takes matters into his own hands. For example, the part where he and Maud deliberately kill an old, defenseless woman while other people just stood by watching.
I should like to see this book turned into a movie. It would be quite fascinating to watch Coriander, Arise Fell, Tycho (Coriander’s love), and other characters on screen.
Other Reviews: Jenne, Jen Robinson, Casey
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- An Amazing Story by Carlo Gabbi
- Sweet Exile by Alison McLeay
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
- The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
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Posted in Authors G, Children's Books, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Titles I at 9:55 pm | Comments (14)
16th May, 2008
In The Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce
This is Book 2 in the Song of the Lioness series. Check out my review of Book 1, Alanna: The First Adventure.
Alanna is still pretending to be a boy at the King’s court and is now Prince Jonathan’s squire. So far, only a few people know about her secret. One night, Alanna meets a stranger in the middle of the night while she’s travelling back to the palace. The stranger happens to be a Goddess and she kind of advises Alanna to face her fears.
Then, Alanna is also cautious of Jonathan’s cousin, Duke Roger of Conte. She suspects of the duke’s intentions to wipe out the whole of the royal family and other important knights so that HE can be the King of Tortall. When there was war between Tortall and Tusaine, Alanna was captured by the Tusaines. The Duke knows that Alanna is against him and plans to get rid of ‘him’. He thinks Alanna is a boy.
Besides being worried about the Duke of Conte, Alanna also has to deal with George Cooper and Jonathan who are trying to win her heart. This makes Alanna pretty confused and she always says that love is not important to her at all. All she wants to do is be a knight and have many great adventures. Anyway, she’s also trying to act like a girl at times, for example wearing girls’ dresses and receiving lessons from George’s mother on how to act like a proper lady.
After Alanna’s eighteenth birthday, she has to go through the Ordeal of Knighthood. A few years ago, Jonathan and her other friends went through it and after the ordeal, they came out looking like they went through the worst in their lives. Therefore, she’s quite worried about passing the Ordeal and finally getting her shield.
There was one part where Alanna was not very bright. In the war with Tusaine, Duke Gareth, the queen’s brother, was ‘accidentally’ injured. Duke Gareth was supposed to lead the army against the Tusaine fighters. But then, Duke Roger was chosen instead to take over Duke Gareth’s place as leader of the army. It’s quite clear that Duke Roger had something to do with Duke Gareth’s accident and since Alanna was always suspecting that Duke Roger was up to no good, it’s quite surprising that she doesn’t know why he’s the army’s leader now. George had to explain it all to her.
Anyway, two more Song of the Lioness books to go!
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- Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
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- 1984 by George Orwell
Posted in Adventure, Authors P, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Titles I, Young Adult Fiction at 2:12 pm | Comments (2)
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