Battle Magic by Tamora Pierce

Title: Battle Magic

Author: Tamora Pierce (American, 1954- )
Originally published: 2013
Page count: 440

Dates read: 3/23/22-3/30/22

2022 book goal progress: 7 out of 21

Back to the Classics category: x
Author Challenge: Tamora Pierce

Mindful Readers' Family Bookclub genre/theme: April - Fantasy


Read my other book reviews for my 2022 goals HERE.

Description on back of book:
Mages Briar, Rosethorn, and Evvy are visiting the mystical mountain kingdom of Gyongxe when they are suddenly called away. The emperor of Yanjing has invited them to see his glorious gardens. During their brief stay, though, the mages see far more than splendid flowers. They see the emperor's massive army, his intense cruelty, and the devastating magic that keeps his power in place.

It's not ill they leave that they discover he's about to launch a major invasion of Gyongxe. The mountain land is home to many temples including the Frist Temple of the Living Circle, which Rosethorn has vowed to defend. With time running out, the mages race to warn their Gyongxe friends of the emperor's plans.

Duty, mystery, magic, and terror will drive them apart on the way. And while new friends will do their best to bring the mages together again on the field of battle, deadly enemies hide in every mountain pass, just waiting to destroy them.

First sentence:
"Two boy-men sat on the river's eastern bank, where an open-fronted tent gave them shelter from the chilly spring wind."

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 8/10 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters      - 9
Atmosphere   - 9
Writing Style - 7
Plot                - 8
Intrigue          - 8
Logic             - 7
Enjoyment     - 8
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:

I really enjoyed this story! I loved the worldbuilding, culture, and characters. The magic got a bit crazy and more religious than it had been previously, but it was interesting. The main bummer was that, as the last book published in the series (so far), it only had 1 of the 4 main characters - Briair.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Tamora Pierce have the last words:

" 'Don't be cranky, Evvy. I thought you liked me.'

'That was before you got us into this mess.'

'The gods would have found another path for us to enter this mess,' Rosethorn said. 'Can't you tell fate when it bites you?' "

Short Stories by Louisa May Alcott

Title: Behind a Mask: A Short Story Collection

Author: Louisa May Alcott (American, 1832-1888)
Originally published: 1863-1874
Page count: 197

Dates read: 3/9/22-3/22/22

2022 book goal progress: 6 out of 20

Back to the Classics category: 19th Century Classic
Author Challenge: x

Mindful Readers' Family Bookclub genre/theme: March - Feminism

Read my other book reviews for my 2022 goals HERE.


Contents:

-From Hospital Sketches (1863)

     1. Obtaining Supplies - 9 pages

     4. A Night - 15 pages

-My Contraband (1863) - 19 pages

-Pauline's Passion and Punishment (1863) - 40 pages

-Behind a Mask (1866) - 96 pages

-Happy Women (1868) - 4 pages

-How I Went Out to Service (1874) - 14 pages

Descriptions from the Note in the book:
The first two stories in this collection, "Obtaining Supplies" and "A Night," are based on Alcott's experiences as a volunteer nurse during the Civil War. These autobiographical stories were collected in Hospital Sketches. "My Contraband" is set in a military hospital, too. The dramatic tension between the officer, his ex-slave, and the nurse is balanced by the convincing realism that characterizes all of Alcott's autobiographical fiction.

"Happy Women" and "How I Went Out to Service" explore issues that Alcott faced in her private life. The former story is a short sketch warning young women against rushing into marriage. The question of women and work was a major concern for Alcott and she presents a humorous account for her early bid for independence as a household servant in "How I Went Out to Service."

Published anonymously, "Pauline's Passion and Punishment" follows a women's revenge through deceit and manipulation prompted by the betrayal of her lover. "Behind a Mask," bears Louise May Alcott's pseudonym, A. M. Barnard. Alcott loved the theater and the 'mask' adopted onstage by a performer applies to her character Jean Muir, who literally transforms her appearance when she arrives in her 'role' as a governess at an English estate. Like Pauline, Jean Muir sets out to achieve her goals by cleverly manipulating her susceptible prey.

Favorite quotes:
"I maintain that the soldier who cries when his mother says 'Goodbye,' is the boy to fight the best, and die the bravest, when the time comes, or go back to her better than he went."

-Obtaining Supplies

"One weapon I possessed, - a tongue, - often a women's best defense; and sympathy, stronger than fear, gave me the power to use it."

-My Contraband

"Traitors are always betrayed in the end."

-Behind a Mask

Review (of all but Behind a Mask):

I'm not a huge fan of stories about war, so the 3 military nurse stories weren't particularly interesting to me. If you're into that or the nursing aspect of it, I highly recommend them - they're just not for me. Out of the 3, My Contraband was the best, though it got quite dark and used the n-word.

I then skipped to the last 2 stories of the list. Happy Women is very short, but, to me and my understanding, very forward-thinking for its day. I enjoyed it. How I Went Out to Service was a cute, humorous story about a woman finding a job. It isn't particularly memorable, but, again, forward-thinking for its day.

Then I moved on to Pauline's Passion and Punishment, which was horrible. I didn't even finish it because it was making me so angry. Pauline falls in love, but it turns out the guy is already engaged and he goes through with that marriage. Pauline then concocts this elaborate plan of deceit and manipulation to get revenge on her ex-lover. I just wanted her to move on. She was making her own life just as miserable as she was making her ex-lover's. It was stupid and it didn't make sense.

Another blog post: Why Didn't You Finish the Book?

Review of Behind a Mask:

I saved this story for last because it was the longest - and actually the reason I got the book in the first place. I couldn't find this story published on its own. Like Pauline's story, Jean's is all about manipulation and deceit, too. The difference is that Jean is trying to make her own life better whereas Pauline was just trying to make someone hurt that way she hurt. Jean's end goal was much more honorable than Pauline's, even though I don't approve of how either of them went about to get it (through deceit and manipulation). If Pauline had focused on bettering her own life, I think her story would have been a completely different one.

Anyway - back to Behind a Mask: You find out very early on that Jean is not who she appears to be, but you don't actually find out her story until the very end. The book pulled me in because I never knew what part(s), if any, of her life, that she told others was true, partly true, or completely made up. I enjoyed it.

First sentence of Behind a Mask:

" 'Has she come?' "

CAWPILE Rating of Behind a Mask: Overall - 7/10 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters      - 8
Atmosphere   - 6
Writing Style - 7
Plot                - 7
Intrigue          - 9
Logic             - 5
Enjoyment     - 7
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Louisa May Alcott have the last words:

"Be true to yourselves; cherish whatever talent you possess, and in using it faithfully for the good of others you will most assuredly find happiness for yourself, and make of life no failure, but a beautiful success."

-Happy Women

The Sturdy Oak: Composite Novel

Title: The Sturdy Oak: A Composite Novel

Author: 14 different people

Edited by: Elizabeth Jordan (American, 1865-1947)
Originally published: 1917
Page count: 175

Dates read: 3/3/22-3/7/22

2022 book goal progress: 5 out of 20

Back to the Classics category: 20th-century classic

Mindful Readers' Family Bookclub genre/theme: March - Feminism


Read my other book reviews for my 2022 goals HERE.


Description on back of book:
Much of The Sturdy Oak reflects the New York campaign for suffrage of 1916-17. The story takes place in a small, conservative community in upstate New York. George Remington, a cautious young lawyer running for office, and his new wife, Genevieve, who becomes converted to the suffrage cause, do not fit the picture of the traditional couple: "the sturdy oak" supporting "the clinging vine." Caught up in the swirling political currents of the day, their marriage, his career, their community - the very foundation of their society - are threatened.

A satirical look at the gender roles of the time, this composite novel was based on the rules of an old parlor game, in which one person begins a narrative, another continues it, and another picks it up. Although the particular political issue that prompted the story, the enfranchisement of women, has now been formally settled, the social problems raised in the novel are hauntingly current: the disposition of wealth; gender inequities; dishonesty and violence as avenues to power.

Contents and authors:

Chapter # - Author -note

1 - Samuel Merwin (American, 1874-1936)

2 - Harry Leon Wilson (American, 1867-1939) -long and complex sentences; hard to decipher

3 - Fannie Hurst (American, 1885-1968)

4 - Dorothy Canfield (American, 1879-1958)

5 - Kathleen Norris (American, 1880-1966) -multiple tense scenes; great continuation

6 - Henry Kitchell Webster (American, 1874-1936) -great chapter; turns everything on its head

7 - Anne O'Hagan (American, 1875-1932) 

-used the n-word early on and it tainted the chapter for me, but it's interesting

8 - Mary Heaton Vorse (American, 1874-1936)

9 - Alice Duer Miller (American, 1874-1966) -great conversation; insightful

10 - Ethel Watts Mumford (American, 1876-1940)

11 - Marjorie Benton Cooke (American, 1876-1920) -Plot twist!

12 - William Allen White (American, 1868-1944)

13 - Mary Austin (American, 1868-1934) -Dicksonian

14 - Leroy Scott (American, 1875-1929) -Great ending, but an unnecessary last 2 pages.

First sentence:
"Genevieve Remington had been called beautiful." 

-chp 1, Samuel Merwin

Favorite quotes:
"That's the real issue. It isn't that women are better than men, or that they could run the world better if they got the chance. It's that men and women have got to work together to do the things that need doing." 

-chp 5, Kathleen Norris

"The sturdy oak [men] will support the clinging vine [women]!" 

-chp 12, William Allen White - brackets added for clarification

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 7.6/10 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Characters      - 7
Atmosphere   - 7
Writing Style - 9
Plot                - 8
Intrigue          - 8
Logic             - 6
Enjoyment     - 8
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:

I enjoyed this book! Elizabeth Jordan edited another composite novel, The Whole Family, and the main issue I had with that story was that it didn't feel very cohesive. For The Sturdy Oak, if I didn't know each chapter was by a different author, I don't think I would've thought anything was off - it was very cohesive and smoothly written from author to author. 

Most chapters were a good continuation from the previous one and overall an easy read. The characters tended to be pretty one-dimensional and the overall plot was predictable. The details/specifics of individual situations were quite surprising. I also appreciated how it showed that not all women were in support of the suffrage movement - which doesn't make sense to me but is historically accurate. Overall, it was a good, albeit simple, story about women fighting for the right to vote.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Alice Duer Miller (chp 9) have the last words:

Note: There are 2 quotes from the same chapter that show a man's perspective versus a women's perspective on another man's reaction to something. Penny is the man they are reacting to - I just wanted to clarify because Penny, at least to me, is usually a name for a female. George and Penny are partners in a law office; Betty is their stenographer and Penny's love interest. George fires Betty; Penny is not happy about it and threatens to dissolve their partnership.

George's perspective on Penny:

" 'I don't feel inclined to ask a favor of Penny just at present," George said haughtily. 'Has it ever struck you, Uncle Martin, that Penny has an unduly emotional, an almost feminine type of mind?'

'No,' said the other, 'it hasn't, but that is perhaps because I have never been sure just what the feminine type of mind is.'

'You know what I mean,' answered George, trying to conceal his annoyance at this sort of petty quibbling. 'I mean he is too personal, over-excitable, irrational, and very hard to deal with.' "

Genevieve's perspective on Penny (several pages later):

" 'I think Penny has been a little hasty,' George said, judicially but not unkindly. 'He lost all self-control when he heard I had let Betty go.'

'Isn't that just like a man,' said Genevieve, 'to throw away his whole future just because he loses his temper?' "

This made me think of the description of the book that said it was still relevant today. It reminded me of a meme I saw just the other day:

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Title: Persuasion

Author: Jane Austen (English, 1775-1817)
Originally published: 1817
Page count: 157

Dates read: 2/17/22-2/28/22

2022 book goal progress: 4 out of 20

Back to the Classics category: 

Classic by a female author

Author Challenge: 

Tamora Pierce / Mercedes Lackey

Mindful Readers' Family Bookclub genre: 

February - Romance

Read my other book reviews for my 2022 goals HERE.

Description on back of book:

Persuasion is the last novel fully completed by Jane Austen. It was published at the end of 1817, six months after her death. The story concerns Anne Elliot, a young Englishwoman of twenty-seven years, whose family moves to lower their expenses and reduce their debt by renting their home to an Admiral and his wife. The wife's brother, Navy Captain Frederick Wentworth, was engaged to Anne in 1806, but the engagement was broken when Anne was "persuaded" by her friends and family to end their relationship. Anne and Captain Wentworth, both single and unattached, meet again after a seven-year separation, setting the scene for many humorous encounters as well as a second, well-considered chance at love and marriage for Anne in her second "bloom."

First sentence:
"Sir Walter Elliot, of Kellynch Hall, in Somersetshire, was a man who, for his own amusement, never took up any book but the Baronetage; there he found occupation for an idle hour, and consolation in a distressed one; there his faculties were roused into admiration and respect, by contemplating the limited remnant of the earliest parents; there any unwelcome sensations, arising from domestic affairs changed naturally into pity and contempt as he turned over the almost endless creations of the last century; and there, if every other leaf were powerless, he could read his own history with an interest which never failed."

Favorite quote:
"A submissive spirit might be patient, a strong understanding would supply resolution, but here was something more; here was that elasticity of mind, that disposition to be comforted, that power of turning readily from evil to good, and of finding employment which carried her out of herself, which was from nature alone."

CAWPILE Rating: Overall - 4.4/10 - ⭐⭐/5
Characters      - 5
Atmosphere   - 4
Writing Style - 5
Plot                - 5
Intrigue          - 4
Logic             - 4
Enjoyment     - 4
What is a CAWPILE Rating?

Review:

This story was slow-moving and predictable. I wanted witty banter between the 2 main characters in order to win the other back. Instead, they just avoided each other, one writes a letter, and then the solution happens. The description said it was humorous, but I didn't find it comedic at all. Though I've read classics, I found this one difficult to get through and decipher - and I just read through all of the Bronte books. Overall, it's a particularly interesting story.

Now I'm off to read another book... but since a review should be more about the author of the book than about the writer of the blog, I will let Jane Austen have the last words:

" [man] 'I could bring you fifty quotations in my moment on the side of my argument and I do not think I ever opened a book in my life which had not something to say upon woman's inconstancy. Songs and proverbs, all talk of woman's fickleness. But perhaps you will say, these were all written by men.'

[woman] 'Perhaps I shall. Yes, yes, if you please, no reference to examples in books. Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much a higher degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything.' "