JaReview: Finnikin of the Rock

I used to be an avid fantasy reader, but after a string of really bad YA fantasy books I essentially gave up the genre. I finally decided to break my hiatus and read Finnikin of the Rock because Melina Marchetta is a total genius.

The beginning was a bit confusing, a little reminiscent of Jellicoe Road. But once I got going, basically after the prologue, I was totally into it. Finnikin was huge deviation from Marchetta’s other books. It felt like I was being flung back centuries, into a different time but not necessarily an alien world. And at the core of this alternate universe was what I’ve come to expect from Marchetta. That is complex characters and brilliant relationships binding them together.

The book follows the journey of a young man, Finnikin, who once belonged to the thriving kingdom, Lumatere. When the story picks up the kingdom has been cursed, the royal family murdered and its people, now exiles, scattered across the surrounding nations. When he meets a mysterious girl, Evanjalin, he begins a quest leading him back to his fallen kingdom.

The world that Marchetta creates is both barbaric and tragic. It is definitely not for the faint at heart. Marchetta describes the brutal acts against the exiles in such a way that the inhumanity of the acts comes across but it’s not overly graphic. She paints a broad picture and lets your imagination fill in the details. At first, I thought some of the violence in the story was a bit unnecessary and too much. But it all goes towards the feel of the book. Finnikin’s world is definitely not a 21st century alternate universe, yet it isn’t exactly an Anglo-Saxon era either. But it is a time period that is definitely uncivilized.

The story had a perfect balance of shatteringly tragic moments and then heart warmingly happy moments. It seems strange to say, but the tragedy within the story makes the happy moments all the more emotional. You can’t really understand how important a reunion is unless you know what kind of sacrifices it required to get to that point.

I loved how Marchetta was able to create dimension in her characters. Sometimes they would be light-hearted comedic relief and yet other times they’d have this soul-breaking vulnerability. One of my favorite characters was Frio, a young Lumatere thief prisoner turned companion to Finnikin’s group. He’s a prickly character, hateful and suspicious of people. And yet there’s another side to him that’s almost naïve, vulnerable and fiercely loyal. A couple of times the story was told from his perspective and those were among my favoritest parts.

I absolutely loved the parts in which Finnikin was a blockhead and Eva was a jealous bint. And while Finnikin is the title character in the story, Marchetta maintains her girl power-ness in Eva and other strong female characters. Eva is a complex character, conniving and manipulative yet she is also compassionate and vulnerable. The whole mystery was pretty obvious from the beginning, but like Jellicoe Road the journey was totally worth it.

Finnikin was a so different from Marchetta’s books in some ways- fantasy genre, title male character. Yet she maintained her penance for developing strong relationships, couples and characters you can’t help but root for and a story you wish would never end. And of course she provided fuel for my latest conspiracy theory – Perridora. No idea what I’m talking about? Read the book. It’s totally there and almost as awesome as Dramione.

~Ja~

JaReview: Into the Wild Nerd Yonder

Into the Wild Nerd Yonder was the first book I've read by Julie Halpern. I found it wildly entertaining and totally hilarious. In the story, the main character, Jessie, begins a quest in search of new friends, as her old besty-es converted to (poseur) punkers. But when she befriends a group of Dungeons & Dragon playing nerds, she wonders if she really wants to trek into this new, nerdy universe.

I thought Jessie was awesome. She’s a strong lead, despite her constant musings that she’s becoming a nerd. I mean how often do teenagers take huge risks, like ditching their friends and (*gasp*) having to find new peeps to eat lunch with? Plus, she is a character you can identify with, as almost everyone goes through the phase of trying to figure out where they belong.

However, I found her hesitation and preoccupation with becoming a nerd a bit redundant. She sews her own skirts for goodness sakes, by no means is that normal. At least in my head, that would already edge her into the “alternative” and slightly dorky arena. But her internal dialogue cracked me up (“...why doesn’t she go suck on a clove so I don’t have to inhale her secondhand perfumed smoke?” and “I’d like to disinfect Bizza’s annoying head right now”). There tons of laugh out loud moments. Just a warning, though, you may never look at a Krispy Kreme donut the same.

Jessie’s got the same issues that plague all female leads in this genre- The Frenemy. In Jessie’s case, her name is Bizza and she is a bi-t of a witch. For the record, I think Bizza is an incredible stupid name, but it surprisingly works for this character. There’s a third girl in her entourage, but like her character was meant to do, Anna just kind of blends into the background. But Bizza is incredibly condescending, self-centered and just plain unlikeable. There were many areas were I felt like jumping up and down and screaming, “Take that witch down.” Well, actually I was screaming something else, but we’ll keep it censored for younger audiences. Fortunately, there was sufficient “Bizza bashing” and I was quite satisfied, my vengeful side appeased.

While I loved the snarkiness of the book, I have to admit there was a bit too much convenient fluffy plot bunnies. The first was Henry, a D&D boy who’s surprisingly good looking under his lame wardrobe. He’s conveniently buff under the nerdy shirts and role playing get-ups. I know theoretically it could happen, but really? A secretly buff and hot nerd boy? The second was the heroine’s ability to get back at all those who’ve done her wrong. While the kharma thing was completely comical and entertaining, it was a bit too convenient. Last, I think the relationship Jessie has with her older brother was a bit too storybook for me. I don’t know *any* siblings that get along that well (at that age) in real life. I mean, what older brother voluntarily drags his little sister to hang out with him and his friends? By parental force is one thing, but of his own volition? Seriously?? However, I really liked the book so I was okay with suspending reality a bit higher to indulge those fluffy fantasies.

It is possible that I harbor a little idolization for Jessie because she’s an awesome drummer. Though she secretly breaks it down into mathematics making it slightly less cool; which really should have been a clue to her as to how much of a nerd she already was. But you see, I was supposed to be the drummer in my high school crew’s imaginary band (Deaf Oranges in case you’re wondering). But either way, I thought she was awesome. It made me a bit nostalgic, even though, unlike the book, there were no secretly hot boys in among the Magic card-wielding boys at my school. They were just…nerds.

~Ja~

{NIN} Review of Finnikin of the Rock

Finnikin of the Rock is quite a departure from Melina Marchetta’s previous books. For one, the protagonist in this story is a guy, and two, the story takes place in the fantasy land of Sendecane as opposed to Australia. Regardless of any of that, the book had the same strong plot, characters, and writing that I’ve come to expect and look forward to from MM.

A lot of times in fantasy novels, the story is overly descriptive of the lands, kingdoms, people, and history that the author wants to tell the reader about. Sometimes, the author is so intent on painting a vision of their world for the reader that the story gets lost in all the details. Melina Marchetta does a fantastic job in ensuring that only the necessary details of the land are included such that they serve the primary purpose of helping the plot move along. In some ways, it didn’t feel like an imaginary land but rather sometime in the Middles Ages of Europe with a bit a fantasy thrown in.

The title character, Finnikin, is a wandering Exile of the Lumateran kingdom. Ten years earlier, the royal Lumateran family was cruelly murdered, the kingdom cursed, her people scattered…never able to return home due to a strange mist blocking all access to the kingdom. Early in the story, he and his mentor, Sir Topher, pick up another wandering Lumateran girl named Evanjalin – who is not all what she seems to be. What appears at first to be a meek and submissive novice (who took a vow of silence, afterall) turns out to be one smart, strong, conniving, visionary, and kick-ass girl.

An underlying theme that seems to appear in all of MM’s books is for the protagonist to see beyond their own self-imposed limitations to achieve their potential. This story is no different and it wraps up in a very satisfying way. The book was a bit dark at times, especially when it alluded to the horrifying things that happened to the women and children or refugees that no other kingdom wanted to deal with, but it was a very (unfortunately) realistic portrayal of what happens to those innocent folks swept up in the tides of war and political intrigue.

One detail of the story that stuck out to me was that it seemed to somewhat mimic the theory put forth by The Da Vinci Code – that the men of the world were so afraid of the power of a woman (Mary Magdalene) that they changed the story to reduce the woman’s power and ensure that men controlled the church. In this instance, the ancient Lumaterans worshipped a single, powerful goddess. However, the Lumateran men were afraid of her power and so split her up into two beings, Lagrami and Sagrami, which results in devastating consequences down the road for the Lumaterans.

Overall, I enjoyed this book very much and it was a refreshing departure for Melina Marchetta that has made me admire her talent even more.