I adored GUARDING ANGEL: it was addicting and interesting and tickled my fancies in the just the right way. The world-building, characters, and the characters' development were so spot on: Enael was very relatable and Saboviec outlined all her struggles so well that I kept rooting for her throughout the story, never becoming impatient for her realize such-and-such already. The adventure is epic; the lovers, true; the sadness and joy, real. I recommend this not only to all fantasy and history fans, but to all human beings.

THE THIEF is one of those simple and elegant novels that are the building blocks of the entire fantasy genre. It is perfectly on point, perfectly poised, and a perfectly lovely little book. I finished the entire thing in an afternoon and could not be more tickled. The words are sharpened to knife point and as beautifully and carefully chosen as blades. This is a brilliant book for any aspiring writer to read as a way to study the genre and for any child's first fantasy read.

This was re-read (or, in this case, re-listen) for me and what a doozy of a ride! Jasper Fforde wrote another rollicking stroll through an alternate imagination, and, since this one is set mostly in the Book World, there's more literature jokes than ever. It was especially fun to read as a writer, since I could attempt to match the Fforde's book creation process with my reality-bound own.

While the book is mostly whacky plot devices and feeding Minotaurs flaxseed yogurt, I feel like this volume in Thursday's life had a greater vein of sadness in it. Be warned: the character count gets trimmed significantly more than the last books. The emotional balancing act of tongue-in-cheek adventures and major character death is a difficult one, and I'm not sure Fforde succeeds totally. Thursday mourns, yes, but she bounces back faster than I ever could.

Overall though, THE WELL OF LOST PLOTS is a fantastic, rib-tickling read with barmy seriousness and severe madness. I definitely still recommend this series to any book lovers in your midst.

I'm always eager for more Alice Hoffman, so I was delighted to find some of her shorter works in my library's audiobook section. And really, I could not ask for a better story than the one I found in INCANTATION.

The story is short, but beautiful. Every sentence has hidden depths; every word is a poem. The imagery is astounding in its brilliance, and the prose made my heart ache with the beauty, wonder, and the tragedy of it all. INCANTATION is the perfect remedy and spice for readers overfull of YA dystopia that's about big blockbuster teenage rebellion. Hoffman is all subtlety and craft. This book is a spell that will make you weep as it hugs you comforting close.

GRACELING is a novel that middle school and high school Natalie would have loved. As a student half in love with Joan of Arc and Kel from Tamora Pierce's PROTECTOR OF THE SMALL Quartet, I would have snatched Katsa up into my personal mythology of heroines/people I wanted to be. I would have daydreamed about meeting a person like Po and getting gold earrings together and possibly naming our first child Katsa. I would have been that obsessed and that happy to see this book.

As it is, I'm on the more insane end of delighted. I really, really enjoyed all the characters. The book took awhile to get going for me, but the twists at the end are brilliant. Brown people are just as good and evil as the other colors. As a writer, I did notice some clunky sentences and some gaps in the world-building, and these happened enough that I'm not giving it the full five stars.

But HECK YEAH am I checking out the other books. These are super comforting YA reads. Booyah. Sign me up for all the lady knight errants who kick ass, take names, and have kindness and compassion win the day.

I think I'm getting the hang of these Alice Hoffman books. With each book, she takes certain motifs--in the case of THE ICE QUEEN, lightening, chaos theory, fairy tales, ice/fire, death/love, wishes, and the color red--mixes the motifs in a blender, and works her authorial magic to make an bewitching, heartrending tale that'll tattoo itself on readers' hearts.

That being said, THE ICE QUEEN could not have been more different than my previous Hoffman, INCANTATION, and still have been by the same author. The nameless protagonist is mean and cold, and at times, I didn't like her and thought she was being too purple or overdramatic. Her brother Ned is a godsend. In the end, there's a wonderful character reversal on the protag's part and my heart went all wibbly with pride at how far she'd come.

The diversity of Hoffman's skill is pretty fantastic, and as a writer, I'm still digesting and thinking about how she does it. I would recommend THE ICE QUEEN to any adult readers interested in the abovementioned motifs. It's a lovely, short read.