AMAZING OCTOPUS: Creature from an unknown world

AMAZING OCTOPUS: Creature from an unknown world
MICHAEL STAVARIČ (tr. Oliver Latsch; illus. Michèle Ganser)
Pushkin Children's Books
$27.00 hardcover, available now

Rating: 5* of five

The Publisher Says: Dive beneath the waves and explore the amazing world of the octopus with this fact-filled book for middle grade readers who can’t get enough about marine animals!

What do ocean and space have in common? How did octopuses and humans evolve? What exactly are cephalopods - and why do they have such a funny name?

Octopuses are the oldest and most intelligent creatures on our planet, true aliens whose abilities amaze us. Michael Stavarič and Michèle Ganser have created a non-fiction book full of surprising twists and turns that offer much more than just imparting knowledge.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I appear to be a middle-grade reader "who can’t get enough about marine animals". I loved reading this book, as ably translated by Oliver Latsch, and I reveled in the illustrations. They're done in an approachable, informative way:

These three were provided by Pushkin Children's Books to show just how astonishingly rich and fascinating all the illustrations are; Michèle Ganser is a major talent. Many more from this pen, please.

Since I'm a firm believer that the Tentacled Americans of all species are as close to alien inteligences as we're going to get for the moment, I was very happy with the choice to link them to outer space in this book.

Octopuses, as we know by now, are cephalopods—their legs, or rather their tentacles, are directly connected to their heads. This may give them a somewhat sack-like appearance to our eyes. Basically, they only consist of a huge head, two big eyes and eight arms, which are equipped with suckers on the underside. So it is not surprising that octopuses are also often called “aliens”.

It's all like this, told as though your science teacher is a fun, funny storyteller with a lot of knowledge to make your learning painless.

The best part of this approach is that the astounding intelligence and real-life coolness of the cephalopd tribe gets hold of you quickly and, if I read this right, permanently. Your budding marine scientist will love the experience of reading this. It's not like most science books for this age group are...brightly colored and written down...so it'll appeal to the serious about science while not repelling the casually interested.

Parents will enjoy it, too, in large part because they'll recognize the Socratic teaching style of asking questions, of probing for the reader's existing knowledge. It's the best way I know of to get new facts to stick: Locate them in the child's existing nexus of information.

The physical book must be a delight to hold. The DRC is a delight to look at, a real visual feast. It marries the beautiful art with an effective, elegant page design. You generally won't go wrong with Pushkin Press's output. This book is no exception.

Cornelia Funke's MIRRORWORLD series, book 4 THE SILVER TRACKS, of 5-book illustrated YA Dark Fantasies

RECKLESS: The Silver Tracks (MirrorWorld #4)
CORNELIA FUNKE (tr. Oliver Latsch)
Pushkin Children's Books
$15.95 trade paper, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: The fourth adventure through the Mirror leads to the Far East, where Jacob and Fox finally track down Will, who is travelling with rival hunter Nerron. In spite of his misgivings, Jacob agrees to go with them to the Island of the Foxes, in quest of another magical Mirror.

But their search quickly leads them into more peril, and as Jacob seeks security for himself and Fox, he is reminded of a disturbing promise he once made that now threatens everything.

Full of fairy tales and legends, old friends and new enemies, The Silver Tracks is the long-awaited fourth volume in the thrilling Reckless series.

The thrilling fourth instalment in Cornelia Funke's internationally bestselling Reckless series.

First book reviewed here—Second book reviewed here
—Third book reviewed here

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: We've learned a lot about Mirrorworld's different parts, right? Wrong! We're still in the ongoing-discovery phase of the series here, in book four, where we're heading to Mirrorworld's version of Japan called (unsurprisingly) Nihon. Our book three antagonist is back with a vengeance, and Will...Jacob's brother (about whom there is quite a surprising hidden fact) and the object of many a quest on Jacob's part...now needs to find him in order to make the curse that's turning his belovèd into wood release its hold. Naturally the antagonist is the only one who can accomplish this as he's the one who created Will's beloved.

No matter how much of the plot I tell you, it won't make one bit of difference. You're reading this review, so are in the mood for fall fantasy reading, so you would do well to get this series (though start with #1 or be *terminally* confused!) of YA dark fantasy novels.

Now, the opinions part. This book's very, very complicated and made more than necessarily so by the technique of using multiple narrative PoVs for even the most minor of characters. This can work beautifully if the reader's in full binge mode; readers like me, who take months to read long, complicated fantasy books, really don't see the benefit of it. I'm reasonably sure that Jacob is the best dark-fantasy protagonist who grows into adulthood in any series I've read, bar none.

He and Fox are becoming parents and discovering the deep, dark secret of being a parent that no one ever tells young people (the child you make together is superglued to your souls, both of you, from the instant it is part of your lives and makes every decision you make more complicated) in the roughest possible way. The stakes in this series entry do not get higher. The number of characters we're following is sizable, deeply intertwined, and morally malleable. Everyone learns they can do things they never considered they would when motivated powerfully enough. The adversary in the story, Spieler, suddenly apeared in the last book and is front and center throughout the action in this book. He did not grow on me the more I saw of him. A horrible person indeed, responsible for Jacob's father's unforgivable behavior. Responsible for entrapping Jacob's brother, Will. Generally an all-arounder in the cruel, abusive, manipulative villain sweepstakes.

*happy sigh*

Perfect for dark fantasy series use. I confess, however, that I'd've liked to see how he got so enmeshed with the Reckless clan as a whole earlier in the series...unless I just passed right by the hints that were dropped about how Will and Jacob's mother lit this particular fuse. The ways in which John Reckless, father of this brotherly dyad, comes off in a different light as the past is slowly revealed, is especially well-done.

I was more put off by the welter of voices as the read progressed. I am not in any way trying to unsell you on the reads! You should know in advance what's coming your way...be prepared when this read comes up to the top of your TBR that concentration is needed to get the full gestalt of the story's locations and narratives. There are many interesting voices: samurai, a centaur, a nine-tailed fox (Japan being an island of fox spirits), some ghosts, a child-eating witch, shapeshifters and even some old friends from the earlier stories.

In addition to Japan and its folklorians, we have our first gay character in Hideo. Based on auguries I'd expect some more time will be spent with him in the future book five. Which isn't out yet. Nor is it even announced by Pushkin Press...this bodes ill for my sanity.

Cornelia Funke's MIRRORWORLD series, book 3 THE GOLDEN YARN, of 5-book illustrated YA Dark Fantasies

RECKLESS: The Golden Yarn (MirrorWorld #3)
CORNELIA FUNKE (tr. Oliver Latsch)
Pushkin Children's Books
$9.99 ebook editions, avalable now

Rating: 4.5* of five

The Publisher Says: Jacob Reckless continues to travel the portal in his father's abandoned study. His name has continued to be famous on the other side of the mirror, as a finder of enchanted items and buried secrets. His family and friends, from his brother, Will to the shape-shifting vixen, Fox, are on a collision course as the two worlds become connected. Who is driving these two worlds together and why is he always a step ahead?

This new force isn’t limiting its influence to just Jacob’s efforts – it has broadened the horizon within MirrorWorld. Jacob, Will and Fox travel east and into the Russian folklore, to the land of the Baba Yaga, pursued by a new type of being that knows our world all to well.

First book reviewed here—Second book reviewed here
—Third book reviewed here—Fourth book reviewed here

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Jacob Reckless, our series protagonist, comes face-to-face with the hardest of adult problems in this entry into the ongoing series of fantasy Young Adult novels: "Why were love and death such close neighbours."

It's always bothered me that love poetry and love songs so frequently conflate love and death. This story, in which Jacob meets his vanished father after more than a decade of aging and growing and becoming his the man who can be a father as well as his brother Will's savior, very much focuses on this seeming dichotomy. Jacob must do what a lot of sonse must do: Come at last to understand the nature of love for a parent when the parent isn't who one wished them to be. Love and death...always sides of a coin, sometimes without much thickness between them so one side's pattern shows on the other side.

How much love costs is another thing Jacob must face in this book. He travels to a farther eastern part of Mirrorworld where we meet Slavic folklorians like rusalkas and, of course, Baba Yaga. Can not pass up a chance to call out the world-building that Funke treats us to in this series...we've had fae and (gar)goyls and sorcerous beings galore, now we get flying carpets and golems! There is so much lovely writing in the translation that evokes the differences in all the peoples of Mirrorworld that it's worth the price of admission just to be brought on Jacob's journey. Notably, as this is marketed as a young adult title, the publisher's treated us again to some lovely, evocative illustrations; again, worth the price of admission to get them before your admiring eyes.

More than all the fantasy novels aimed at adults that I've read, this series (to date) has done the most to convince me that there is a glorious amount of Story that's best told by means of fantasy tropes. There's nothing important that I don't care for in this German translation (misspellings à la anglais irk me, but not enough to knock points off for...especially from a British publishing house).

Why I'm only at four and a half stars not the full five is simply that the adversary in this tale pops up and has no reason to that I could follow. It's not awful; it's just that we've got such a fabulous set-up for this title in this quote: "The Golden Yarn...or the inseverable bond, as it is also called. As inseverable as the threads of fate," which gets vitiated by the up-popping adversary. "The threads of fate" are unquestionably the most relevant organizing pinciples here. Then, Author Funke, ensnare *everyone* in them from the get-go.

Really, there's nothing more to this than my nagging sense of "fair play" brought over from the series-mystery reading world. What works works so well that I want to be fair about your possible complaints. In dealing with Jacob's latest foray into Mirrorworld and confronting deeply ugly realities of his father, and brother, having flaws, Author Funke never once drops the thread that binds families of all sorts together.

Minor whinges be damned. The series works, and keeps working.

Cornelia Funke's MIRRORWORLD series, LIVING SHADOWS: second of 5-book illustrated YA Dark Fantasies

RECKLESS: Living Shadows (MirrorWorld #2)
CORNELIA FUNKE (tr. Oliver Latsch)
Pushkin Children's Books (non-affiliate Amazon link)
$9.99 Kindle edition, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Jacob has saved his brother from the Mirrorworld, but now he will pay a terrible price. A fairy's curse is burning in his heart, and to break the spell he must embark upon a perilous journey - with his trusty friend Fox by his side - to seek out the only treasure that could save him.

Jacob's search for the golden crossbow will lead him across hundreds of miles by land and sea, to an invisible, enchanted palace within the Dead City. It will bring him face to face with vicious beasts, bloodthirsty giants, and a deadly stone­faced rival.

It will test his courage like never before.

Living Shadows is the second book in the thrilling Reckless series.

First book reviewed here—Second book reviewed here
—Third book reviewed here—Fourth book reviewed here

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I am convinced that this series is cruelly aimed at obsessive completist readers. The cliffhanger at the end of book one makes this book a MUST-READ NOW and, through the magic of Kindle, I was able to read the books back-to-back. I warn all who come after me: To sign up for this voyage into Mirrorworld is to commit to the whole cycle.

I am in.

What happens during the course of this book is that Jacob comes to understand something he'd never given much thought to: My love for you creates my responsibility for you creates a web of obligation that is endless...and as addictive as any narcotic. While we who have read the first book know what a price Jacob has paid, in fact what a price he paid after making a sacrifice that even he isn't quite aware of the dimensions of yet, we're probably not expecting the antagonist of this book.

In fact, I guarantee we're unprepared for the existence of the antagonist of this book. And that's probably Author Funke's most clever sleeve-ace yet. It plays well.

There are the accustomed delights of reading this series' world-building fillips. These are numerous, though enumerating them for you isn't really something worth doing in a review. There is a Fandom wiki, of course there is!, and I didn't look but am willing to bet there's fanfic on AO3. The reason is that Author Funke used every conceivable fairy-tale source to draw her world out from and has made it into a near-seamless whole. (Where there are seams that I can perceive, eg Goyls' method of transmission, it felt to me as though they were intentional not born of inattention to source material.)

The problem I had wth this entry is how kinetic, nay frenetic, it is. We go from pillar to post and back again; Fox is with us, Nerron the treasure-hunting half-Goyl whose existence is new to this book is against us; we're never for a moment at rest, able to take stock, pause to reflect. It's exactly what Author Funke intends, and it's a valid narrative technique but in this reader it creates a sense of distance from the characters. I'm so deep in the world that I don't get to experience his progress through his (final?) days.

Until I read this:

"If you catch your own children in the circle...then you can use the years you take from them for yourself. You're just taking back the life you gave them in the first place. The more of it, the better."

That was a gut-punch of a trap set for overeager treasure hunters, wasn't it?! And the sheer violence of the stakes set...if you're not a relative of the curse-setter, you're still going to die in the circle but it won't keep the curse-setter alive...could not be more urgent. Now that Jacob has found this evil place, he thinks he's trapped in the curse.

Fox, his shifter gal-pal, isn't having that. As always, the woman's love saves the man from his stupidity and greed. Though let's be fair to Author Funke, this time Jacob's greed was simply the desire to live that we all suffer from. And since Fox very much wants Jacob still alive, she's hardly just going to watch as he dies from a curse she can stop from progressing...if she's willing to do something that's very, very hard to do and commit murder.

Killing someone/thing in a struggle isn't murder. The intent to kill, the set purpose and the planning of the act...that's murder. Will she murder to save Jacob's life?

You'll have to read the book.

The ending is tremendously exciting.

Cornelia Funke's MIRRORWORLD series, RECKLESS I: THE PETRIFIED FLESH is first of 5-book illustrated YA Dark Fantasy Series

RECKLESS: The Petrified Flesh (MirrorWorld #1)
CORNELIA FUNKE (tr. Oliver Latsch)
Pushkin Children's Books (non-affiliate Amazon link)
$9.99 Kindle edition, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Jacob has uncovered the doorway to another world, hidden behind a mirror. It is a place of dark magic and enchanted objects, scheming dwarves and fearsome ogres, fairies born from water and men born from stone. Here, he hunts for treasure and seeks adventure in the company of Fox - a beautiful, shape­shifting girl, who guides and guards him. But now Jacob's younger brother has followed him into the mirrored world, and all that was freedom has turned to fear. Because a deadly curse has been spoken; and Jacob must risk his life to reverse it, before his brother is turned to stone forever... Revised and updated by Cornelia Funke, The Petrified Flesh is the first book in the thrilling Reckless series.

First book reviewed here—Second book reviewed here
—Third book reviewed here—Fourth book reviewed here

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Don't mistake "young adult" for "fluffy." This story of brothers, orphaned early in life by a father whose abandonment of them without a word also cost them their mother to her grief, as they find the "Mirrorworld" that their father vanished into...inside his study!

This is a portal fantasy, with a secondary world that resembles our own enough to be an alternate-history wrold except for the fact that magic works. "Austry" is the name of the Mirrorworld country the brothers, and their father before him, arrive in, not the Austria they leave behind. The family's disintegration, as abetted by the mirror, is not something that the hero Jacob is trying to fix or to escape, like Meg in A Wrinkle in Time or the Pevensies in The Chronicle of Narnia. Jacob's a young adult, he fled into Mirrorworld to find a place for himself not look for someone else. Of course he finds others...a bad father-figure but a good mentor in Albert Chanute, innkeeper and treasure hunter in Austry, a girlfriend of sorts in Fox the shapeshifting...fox. He's got a life as a treasure hunter! He's met the Empress six times! (But don't tell Chanute that, he's only met her three times for treasure-hunting and now he's past it, so there'd be jealousy and trouble.)

The stakes this secondary world introduces to us could not be higher. Jacob's treasure-hunting ways are threatened by the Goyls, put a gar- in front and you'll get it, finally having effective leadership and thus starting to win battles in the eternal war between humans and their kind. What matters about that is that Will, Jacob's brother, has been bitten by a Goyl and is suffering the inexorable fate of such: He's turning into the stone creature that we call a Goyl but, since he's human, he won't survive the change. He will be a stone human...dead, but still walking without his soul. And Jacob, whose running away to find a life in this other world, now can't figure out how to save Will...and his refusal to share knowledge of Mirrorworld with Will is what left him susceptible to the bite in the first place. Oh! Wait! That's not enough pressure, not enough baggage. Will's utterly innocent girlfriend Clara finds the mirror and enters Mirrorworld, too!

Now, let me not spend more time in Spoilerville than is necessary. Will and Clara are serious Mary Sues. The world happens to them. They're not possessed of Jacob's trove of information...and this is something he quite rightly blames himself for not imparting to his adoring little brother. He spends just enough time recognizing that he's set these conditions in motion, and the success or failure of Will's future life among the living not-Goyls is entirely on him.

Celeste/Fox surprised me as a character. Will is younger than Jacob and he has a blah girlfriend, but Jacob's magical girlfriend is...a real full-bodied relationship partner! I wasn't thinking that would work in a kid-aimed story. But this, with its neither dwelt-on nor avoided sexuality and its frank presentation of bodily suffering...Chanute's arm is lost for a singularly stupid reason, for example, but it's before the story we're being told now starts, and is reported not experienced...is part of the not-quite-adult storytelling world. I'd give this to any sixteen-year-old and expect them to feel positive about it. Not younger, though. The consequences of stupid actions aren't minimized!

But sometimes, stupid people just can't be forced to stop being stupid. Clara simply can not be made to see what is completely obvious to the meanest intelligence: She is NOT in her own birth-world anymore and can NOT act like she's out for a particularly strange walk there! It gets wearing, her insistence that Jacob act as though her world's rules still hold sway. And he, fool of a man that he is, keeps explaining and explaining why her way won't work! Because she's unwilling to learn!

But Jacob...he's fighting through death and resurrection, he's fighting enemies he knows are enemies as well as friends he doesn't know are worse than enemies..."Who makes peace when you can have victory?" muses one such...Jacob fights until the fabric of Mirrorworld finally delivers him the thing he's consistently asked for, demanded, begged to receive. The thing he's died inside and out to cause to happen.

He's received the gift of an ending.

What a lovely way to make your portal fantasy pop! Make it such that there is no more severe betrayal that can occur to anyone in this world. Give everyone an ending. Then, stand back and watch the fun begin!

So perfect for its intended audience, so much in accord with the end-of-adolescence access of adult emotions but without the perspective to manage them. This should take the world by storm, and I hope it will.