Everland - an audiobook review

Everland

by Wendy Spinale
Read by Fiona Hardingham, Steve West
Scholastic Audio, 2016

Everland is a *steampunk homage to Peter Pan, and the first in a series.  The setting is London, renamed Everland after its defeat by the Germans and the ravages of a deadly virus that targets adults.

I reviewed Everland for AudioFile Magazine.  Read my review here: [http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/reviews/read/113935/]

Listen to a sample clip of Everland here: [http://www.audiobooks.com/book/stream/263509]
 
Everland is told from the dual perspectives of Gwen and Hook, and has two capable narrators.  This is ostensibly a YA title so it has a hint of romance, but I think it's also appropriate for younger readers.  It was a tad too sentimental in places and there were a few modernisms I would have left out (the word "snark" and a fist-bump come to mind), but it's a faithful re-working of the Peter Pan story and has great potential as a series. 



Note:
If you're not familiar with the steampunk genre, here's a primer that I've posted before:

*steam·punk [steem-puhngk]
noun
1.a subgenre of science fiction and fantasy featuring advanced machines and other technology based on steam power of the 19th century and taking place in a recognizable historical period or a fantasy world.
2.a subculture inspired by this literary and film subgenre: the fashions and gadgets of steampunk.
Also, steam punk, steam-punk.
Origin:
1985–90;  modeled on cyberpunk

  * steampunk. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc.http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/steampunk (accessed: March 26, 2013).

Freaks - a review

You know you want to go in!

Just a quick book review on Freaks because my middle-grade book club meets tomorrow and they'll all be clamoring for this one. I'll never see it again after I booktalk it.  (And if that's not a good review, I don't know what is!)

Larwood, Kieran. 2013. Freaks. New York: Chicken House.
(advance reader copy courtesy of the publisher)

If you're not familiar with steampunk, here's a quick primer:

*steam·punk [steem-puhngk]
noun
1.a subgenre of science fiction and fantasy featuring advanced machines and other technology based on steam power of the 19th century and taking place in a recognizable historical period or a fantasy world.
2.a subculture inspired by this literary and film subgenre: the fashions and gadgets of steampunk.
Also, steam punk, steam-punk.
Origin:
1985–90;  modeled on cyberpunk

A steampunk novel for middle-grade to upper-middle grades, Freaks delivers all the excitement and weirdness that its cover art promises.  Sheba belongs to Mr. Grunchgirdle of Grunchgirdle's Curiousities at the end of a pier in Little-Pilchton-on Sea, 1851.  She stays in a cage, available for display to any poor customer who can afford the few coins to see the curious Wolfgirl, with her claw-like hands, hairy body, and unknown to Grunchgirdle, incredible sense of smell.  So when she is sold to Mr. Plumpscuttle, to become a member of Plumpscuttle's Peculiars in London, she is not expecting life to improve much, though London certainly sounds more exciting than the wharf in Little Pilchton.

In London, Sheba joins Plumpscuttle's Peculiars, a dilapidated freak show consisting of Monkeyboy, whose name is sufficient for explanation, Sister Moon, a Japanese ninja girl with catlike qualities; Mama Rat, keeper of trained rats; and the big man, Gigantus. Mr. Plumpscuttle is little, if any, better than Mr. Grunchgirdle, however, as long as the Peculiars draw a paying crowd each night, they are granted more freedom than Sheba had at Gruchgirdle's.

When poor young mudlarks (children who earn a living picking scrap from the muddy tidal shores of the Thames) begin disappearing - snatched, the locals say, by a giant metal crab, no one cares.  The fate of mudlarks does not concern the average citizen of Victorian-era London, but it does concern the Peculiars; and together, they use their peculiar talents to uncover the mystery of the giant mechanized crab, becoming a peculiar "family" in the process.

I think we'll be seeing more of this trio of fun, freaky, steampunk, crime fighters.

UK cover for Freaks.  

Read the first chapter of Freaks here.

An Author's Note on Mid-Nineteenth Century London, and a Gallery of Freaks, the author's character sketches including Flossy, the two-headed lamb are included as back matter and add historical perspective and a some light-heartedness to Freaks.

* steampunk. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc.http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/steampunk (accessed: March 26, 2013).

Steampunk, etc.

Back in November, I attended a youth services forum that featured a program on Steampunk.  I was unable to sit in on that session, but I knew that I'd have to follow up.  After all, I didn't even know what Steampunk was! Now I'm finally (somewhat) up to speed on this genre.

 In her session materials, presenter Sharon Rawlins defined Steampunk as "a sub-genre of fantasy and science fiction often set in the steam-powered Victorian and Edwardian eras. It imitates the speculative fiction of H.G. Wells & Jules Verne and features anachronistic technologies such as dirigibles and computers."

I checked my library's available Steampunk audiobook downloads and decided on the Hunchback Assignments.  Truthfully, I didn't have great expectations. Suprisingly, I thoroughly enjoyed the book, although the story was a bit too dark for my taste.

Modo, a deformed hunchback, is rescued from a gypsy's travelling sideshow by a benevolent, but cool and distant benefactor, Mr. Socrates.  Raised in isolation and trained for varied and dangerous eventualities, Modo finally learns the true reason for his rescue.  He begins a series of increasingly dangerous missions against an increasingly malevolent and murderous foe that threatens the very fabric of English society.

The publisher's book trailer and a link to Chapter 1 are below; however, I must note that I don't feel as if the trailer does the book justice.  The trailer adds a bit of comic lightheartedness that is missing in this compelling adventure story.  Jayne Entwhistle's presentation in the audiobook version has the perfect tone for this dangerously gloomy adventure story. I found it to be somewhat like The Golden Compass in mood.

A convincing story that makes it easy to suspend disbelief.  Modo is a flawed hero who is easy to admire, and his female interest, Octavia, is a perfect foil.


Slade, Arthur. 2009. The Hunchback Assignments, Book 1. Read by Jayne Entwhistle.  Listening Library.

Read Chapter 1 online.


The Hunchback Assignments (Book Trailer) from Arthur Slade on Vimeo.


Interested in reading some Steampunk yourself? You may find a list of titles from Sharon Rawlins' presentation here.

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