Book Review: Gift of the Unmage

WorldWeavers
Gift of the Unmage

By:  Alma Alexander

Publisher:  Eos Books

Publish Date:  March 2008

Genre:  YA, Fantasy

Format:  Paperback, 401pgs, pocket book size

Series:  1st Book in Worldweavers trilogy

Recommendation:  For younger adults and adults, who like to read of young characters learning about their own powers or lack of in a world full of magic, without violence and sexual tension.

Book Synopsis:
Who knew you'd be a true weaver?

Great things have been expected of Thea, the seventh child of two seventh children.  Now, with Cheveyo, a mage, Thea has begun to weave herself a new magical identity, infused with elements of the original worlds.  But back home, Thea keeps her abilities hidden and attends the Wandless Academy, the one school on Earth for those who have no apparent magical talent.  It is there that Thea realizes that her enemies are hungrier and more dangerous than she knew.  What's more, her greatest strength may be the powerlessness she has resisted for so long.

First Sentence:
"You smell angry," Aunt Zoe said as she walked in through the door, sniffing in Thea's direction like a hound dog scenting prey.

My Review and Summary:
Thea is 14 years old.  She's the seventh child of two seventh children, which means she is to be very powerful.  Thea wants to go to the best magical University when she gets older.  But, there is one thing holding her back...she doesn't have the magical touch, at all.  She's not able to perform any magical projects.  She feels she's letting her parents down.  They have tried everything they can to help Thea find her magical nitch.  Now, there is only one thing left to try and her father will call in a huge favor to try it.

In her eavesdropping Thea knows her parents have plans for her and if these plans with some private lessons don't work, she will be sent to that place next year.  That place is The Wandless Academy, where non-magical children go to school.  Non-magical children and schools are the minority and she feels she will become nothing in a magical world without magical powers.

This is a world where magic exists in a big way, and in many different specialities and levels.  If you don't have magic, you don't amount to much of anything here, or as Thea feels.  There is a big world starting to be created here with endless magical possibilities; from our traditional telepathy between family members to traditional magic with music or shepherd mages and different levels of mages.  We even have portals to travel to different places and through time.

This young adult read is not one for lots of violence or intimacy of boyfriend/girlfriend, but what I did enjoy from it was the American Indian mythology usage.  This was a great mythology to set with this world.  Alma relates the things Thea learns my using the beliefs to the current time and place Thea lives in.

Thea starts off as a typical teenage child who in a way feels sorry for herself and guilty for her lack of powers, in relation to her parents.  She has a wonderful and open relationship with her Aunt.  As she is close with her parents, it's just she feels she has let them down, being expected to be so powerful. Thea really grows greatly through this book with what she learns while with Chevery.  Then how she uses it when she returns home to willingly go to the Wardless Academy.  Thea makes some wonderful and unusual friends there at the school.  But it is a time she will never forget, for the things she accomplishes.  I enjoyed the journeys Thea takes to understand herself.  Through the beliefs and teachings Thea goes through she learns she has to be patient and the understanding will come ~ a great lesson to be learned by both children and adults alike.

I enjoyed this first book, and will be reading the next book as well.  I would suggest this book to a Young adult who likes to read of magic and Americal Indian mythology.  I feel this book was a nice break from lots of fighting and violence and even the drooling love scenes.  This is a nice read for a younger adult to sit back and enjoy, and the parents not worring what is in those pages.


I received this book from the author for review.


This book qualifies for my Speculated Fiction Challenge hosted by Book Chick City
and 2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge hosted by Home Girl's Book Blog.

Book Review: Brain Thief

Brain Thief


By: Alexander Jablokov

Publisher: Tor


Publish Date: January 2010


Format: Hardcover, 383 pages


Genre: Science Fiction


Series: Stand alone (I believe)


Recommendation: If you like mystery and science fiction, read this. There is lots of mystery solving in this one.


Book Synopsis:
Bernal Haydon-Rumi, executive assistant to a funder of eccentric projects, drops by his boss's house on the way home from a business trip. By the next morning, he's been knocked out, his wealthy socialite boss, Muriel, has stolen a car and vanished, and the AI designed for planetary exploration that she's been funding turns out to be odder than it should be. In figuring out what's going on, Bernal has to deal with an anti-AI activist toting a hand-made electronic arsenal, a local serial killer, a drug dealer with a business problem, a cryonic therapist stalked by past mistakes - and someone who specifically wants Bernal dead.


First Sentence:
For Bernal, the message in the cowboy boot finally confirmed that something was wrong.


My Review and Summary:
The mystery starts right away when Bernal is just coming home from a business trip stopping by to see his boss. He gets the feeling something's not right. You start to see, as well, something is askew. Chasing his boss as she runs away and steals a car to get away. What is going on? Muriel, Bernals boss, leaves hints and messages to help steer him on the right path to help him with the mystery of Hesketh. Hesketh is an artificial intelligence that is on a sample run through the hillsides before it is actually sent into space.

I have to say I understood what was going on at the beginning of the book. Then there were a lot of strange things mentioned in which I got confused on. There was talk of Hesketh, Hess Corp - who worked on Hesketh before Madeline and Muriel took on the project with Muriels money, and Long Voyage - a cryobank for people wanting to wake up in the future. The confusion was not that I didn't completely understand what I was reading but mostly that I didn't believe what I was reading. I couldn't figure out if I was reading and comprehending it properly. (This being part of the mystery stuff.) I started to tally all the information I was getting separately in my head then piecing it together to see where the book was going. I was just a little ahead of the author, as just as I was doing this he then started to do it in the book. At around 150 pages into the book Bernal started to piece the puzzle together as well. Which when I hit this point I was so proud of myself as I was coming right up at the same lines as the main character. Hurray for me to understand and put it together! Then there was new information added nicely from this point to include in solving the mystery.

Part of the best part of the book that kept me going was wondering who was leaving the messages and who was dead or alive, who was the serial killer, and what was going on with Hesketh (if it really worked). In the end I got the answers I was looking for. The mystery element was what kept me going in the book.

The characters unfold nicely as the book goes. There are a few characters you really don't truly meet and follow through but they feel as they are main characters by the way they are talked about, described, and messages passed on. I liked this angle as I really felt I got to know these characters and they really came through. In the end I really enjoyed most of the characters.

There were just a few minor unfavored points: There were a few spots that when things were brought up or thought, it almost felt like it didn't really flow or blend with what was going on. Almost like the information was needed and had to be told somewhere, but there were only a small few of these. Then there was the main character Bernal. I felt like I really didn't get to know him as well as the other characters. I mean I did get to know him but for some reason I didn't feel the connection as much with him as all the other characters. I liked him but that was all. He did do a great job of solving the mystery at hand and sticking to his guns on his ideas.

This has been a wonderful mystery with the science fiction element added in. Many of the characters have parallel characteristics which could point to them as the possible killer behind all of this. But there is one that fits all the pieces very well. Can you figure it out?

This book qualifies for my reads in the challenge of Speculative Fiction at Book Chick City.