Teen Review: Maddie & Sayara

Promotional copy provided by Netgalley in return for a review.




Maddie & Sayara
Sanjyot P. Dunung
Expected publication date: September 7th, 2017

Rating: 2/5
Plot: 3/5
Characters: 1/5
Writing: 2/5

Maddie and Sayara are two regular 13-year-olds who meet at a spring break vacation in the Bahamas. They become fast friends and slowly, Maddie comes to understand the differences between her own country's laws regarding women and the "kingdom" where Sayara lives. When Sayara's cousin is arrested for daring to drive while female, Maddie makes a whirlwind decision: she is going to the kingdom to talk some sense into that stupid government.

I feel like I say this a lot, but I really wanted to like this story. It seemed like it had real potential for expanding the genre of politically-motivated stories in the tween/teen area. What I found was a painfully frustrating account of a "normal family" which is obviously very much not the normalcy of American middle class that I know, as her mother can afford to not work and hires a nanny for the three children so she can spent weeks on end in the spa and thinly veiled (no pun intended) references to a Middle Eastern country which requires all women to wear a "tent."

I was also appalled at Maddie's characterization. She steals her mother's login and frequent flyer miles to book a plane to a foreign country, so she can "find someone who can fix the driving ban." I have known a lot of naive teens and tweens, but none of them would even think about trying to go to a foreign country alone. None of them would assume that changing nation-wide laws can be done by one individual, especially a girl in a country that marginalizes women to the degree that the kingdom does. Naivety is one thing; reckless self-endangerment is something entirely different.

Also disturbing was the characterization of Maddie's mother: a supposedly middle class mother who neglects her children, spends lavish amounts of money to pamper herself and to make sure someone else raises her kids, and seems to emotionally abuse her daughter through unreasonable demands and silent treatment tactics. She also has intensely old-fashioned views about what women's roles in society should be, without a corresponding religious or social class basis for her opinions. It is stated that "that's how she was brought up to be" but the abusive effects of her behavior with Maddie are never addressed.

The writing also frustrated me. It seems that the author didn't expect that her readers would retain key plot points between chapters, so insisted on repeating--often in exactly the same words--those plot points throughout their relevant chapters. And while I appreciate Maddie's stream-of-consciousness approach to narrating, sometimes it is distracting from the story that is actually happening.

As a whole, I was disappointed by this tween/teen novel. Perhaps there are parents who care more about preaching the evils of overbearing faith institutions than a believable and relatable story. As an informational parable, it works relatively well and the pacing of information does keep you wanting to turn the page to find out what happens next. The information dumping is heavy-handed though, especially when it comes from a tween who doesn't seem particularly bright or able to make logical jumps on her own. The inconsistencies in writing and character development put this book very low on my recommended reads list.

Adult Review: Written in Dead Wax (Vinyl Detective #1)

Written in Dead Wax: the Vinyl Detective book 1.
Andrew Cartmel

Overall Rating: 4.5/5
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
Writing: 5/5

The Vinyl Detective is a British record collector who brags that he can find any record and then gets his chance to prove it. A woman named Nevada shows up in his small town with one of his business cards; turns out she's working for a high-class record collector in Japan. And then the bodies start showing up...

I want to run to the office of my library's collection manager and demand that she order the rest of this series immediately. Andrew Cartmel is a playwright and screenwriter who has done work for Torchwood and the Midsomer Murders, both of which I adore, and he was a script editor for Doctor Who at one point. To say he's already proved himself capable of working a story-line would be an understatement.

The Vinyl Detective benefits from a lilting sense of humor, Cartmel's lightning quick dialog, and a cast of unruly misfits who still manage to get the job done. The characters were engaging and unique, though I was mildly troubled by the trope-ishness of his female characters. Nevada and Ree both redeem themselves by the end of the story and Fanny and Turk require no redeeming. Because they're cats.

The story does have two distinct parts, noted as "Side One" and "Side Two." They almost read like separate but interconnected novellas. This wasn't a problem for me, but it was a little startling since Side Two takes the protagonist from Britain to California in only a few phrases. I also spent a good portion of the last few rising-action chapters yelling at the characters for not seeing such an obvious conclusion. I had figured out the major story, though Cartmel did throw me for a loop in the final resolution of the story. The ending was satisfying, though demanded additional books because I'm not ready to leave this bunch digging in used vinyl crates and taking steam baths with cats.

A side note: I have not mentioned the main character's name because I noticed 2/3rds of the way through the book that he doesn't seem to have one. The whole story is told first-person and no one ever calls him by a legal name. He gets a few nicknames, but that's all. I was embarrassed about this because it took me so long to notice.

To sum up: I recommend this book highly for fans of mystery, technical geekery, Jazz history, and cats.

Teen Review: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard

Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard: The Sword of Summer
Rick Riordan

Rating: 4/5

The Sword of Summer begins another of Rick Riordan's multi-book series centered on mythology from different regions. This particular series focuses on Norse and Scandinavian mythology and opens with a smart-aleck first-person narrator named Magnus. As Magnus is introduced to a new world of monsters and gods that lives parallel to the world he knew, Riordan brings out a time-tested formula of snappy narrator, unknown evil, and a whole new set of rules that the reader is learning just as the main character is. The result is a fast-paced, hysterically funny read for teens, mature children, and adults who can't resist a smart-mouthed narrator.

Rick Riordan does follow a formula in writing these mythology reboot series, it really is a fantastic formula. His characters glow, popping off the page both from his dialog and his vivid descriptions. The action happens fast, at the speed of the character's grasp of the situation. And then there's the later commentary from now-Magnus looking back on then-Magnus. Riordan is a master of the cliff-hanger ending, drawing the reader from page to page even between chapters with a constant sense of curiosity.

This series came to my attention after the announcement that Rick Riordan had been awarded the Stonewall Award for the second installment. In that book, he introduces a trans and gender-fluid character, Alex Fierro.

Rick Riordan (in his acceptance speech): "I think, to support young LGBTQ readers, the most important thing publishing can do is to publish and promote more stories by LGBTQ authors, authentic experiences by authentic voices. We have to keep pushing for this. The Stonewall committee’s work is a critical part of that effort. I can only accept the Stonewall Award in the sense that I accept a call to action – firstly, to do more myself to read and promote books by LGBTQ authors."