Book #13: Sisters Red, by Jackson Pearce
Apr. 10th, 2011 08:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grav_itygirl power, fairy tale retelling, Buffy wishes she was this cool, again with the present tense, sisters are forever, much more amazing than Supernatural ever was on its best day, werewolves that don't suck, etc.
Now, you know how reluctant I am to overstate my case, but there are a few things I like in a novel, and a self-rescuing heroine ranks pretty darn close to the top. I am therefore quite glad to live in this post-whatever literary age where fairy-tales get retold in ways that are infinitely cooler than Anderson or the Grimms ever thought of. Little Red Riding Hood gets done a lot, metaphorically at least, but this re-telling? BEST. THING. EVER. (see previous re: not overstating my case.)
(And there are a lot more spoilers than usual behind this spoiler cut, because I'm STILL highly caffeinated, and I REALLY LIKED THIS BOOK A LOT. Consider yourself warned.)
Most of the OMG AWESOME! things I want to tell you happen at the end of the book. Like how the Fenris lock Rosie in a room with none of her weapons, and she creates an EXPLODING BALL OF FIRE, all the better to save her own damn self (not to mention the pep talk she gives herself leading up to that moment, which made me so excited I had to sit up and rock back and forth for a while, while reading). And how when all the Fenris attack, Rosie and Scarlett circle the wagons, all the better to save the BOY, who is basically along to be the Damsel in Distress, and every now and then remind the girls of how awesome they are. And how even though I figured out that Silas was the Potential before we got any of the clues they found in Atlanta (it was just too neat, otherwise), I was so caught up in the fight scene at the end that I couldn't do the math with the clock chimes (because Pearce had done such a BRILLIANT job in making them normal background noise).
ETA: And I can't believe I forgot this yesterday, but in the final fight sequence? Rosie? Who has just blown up a warehouse and then run really fast and then thrown a bunch of knives a pack of Fenris? KILLS THE ALPHA WITH HER BARE HANDS.
*breathes into a paper bag*
Ahem.
That said, the way the clues were doled out was pretty brilliant. I'm not a huge fan of figuring things out miles ahead of the characters, but there was no reason for them to suspect Jacob. The whole thing was very well structured, and the pacing was magnificent.
I loved the relationship between Rosie and Scarlett, how they reacted to one another and how they managed to be so similar and so different at the same time. The depth both girls have, and the bond between them, and then out to Silas, and even the cat, was incredible, and so believable it hurt. And they don't really have super powers, which is cool. They just work really hard. And use everything they can against the Fenris, including posing as the bait when necessary.
I really love that the novel was set modern day-ish, and only sort of had an otherworldly feel to it. The pictures Pearce painted of the woods, and the way she used words like "woodsman" and had the girls wear cloaks instead of coats...just gave the whole book this surreal, beautiful feel that I couldn't get enough of.
And the fight scenes. It's hard to write fight scenes. I hate writing fight scenes. The fight scenes in this book were so real I could very nearly smell them. It's an absolutely stunning achievement in prose. The opening and closing fights in particular, but also the epilogue, which was a fight of a different sort, and fairly bled off the page into my brain.
The ending, the epilogue, was spot on. I love the idea that they keep going, that they're true to themselves, and each other, in the end, even though it hurts. I did get a bit mad with Silas when he kissed Scarlett in the park, but her reaction was just so perfect that I couldn't hold it against him, and it was never played for drama, which I liked. Silas did come between them, sort of, but not in a stupid way, and I don't have to tell you how impressed I am about that.
Also, did I mention the part where Rosie SAVED HERSELF WITH AN EXPLOSION? Yeah, I kind of loved this book. :)
I've been pretty free with the 10 this year, but Sisters Red gets it too, for being so awesome I had to spend most of the last 50 pages breathing into a paper bag, for self-rescuing heroines, and for going the extra mile and not (quite) giving me the happily ever after.
...Sweetly doesn't come out until AUGUST. *sulks*
Now, you know how reluctant I am to overstate my case, but there are a few things I like in a novel, and a self-rescuing heroine ranks pretty darn close to the top. I am therefore quite glad to live in this post-whatever literary age where fairy-tales get retold in ways that are infinitely cooler than Anderson or the Grimms ever thought of. Little Red Riding Hood gets done a lot, metaphorically at least, but this re-telling? BEST. THING. EVER. (see previous re: not overstating my case.)
(And there are a lot more spoilers than usual behind this spoiler cut, because I'm STILL highly caffeinated, and I REALLY LIKED THIS BOOK A LOT. Consider yourself warned.)
Most of the OMG AWESOME! things I want to tell you happen at the end of the book. Like how the Fenris lock Rosie in a room with none of her weapons, and she creates an EXPLODING BALL OF FIRE, all the better to save her own damn self (not to mention the pep talk she gives herself leading up to that moment, which made me so excited I had to sit up and rock back and forth for a while, while reading). And how when all the Fenris attack, Rosie and Scarlett circle the wagons, all the better to save the BOY, who is basically along to be the Damsel in Distress, and every now and then remind the girls of how awesome they are. And how even though I figured out that Silas was the Potential before we got any of the clues they found in Atlanta (it was just too neat, otherwise), I was so caught up in the fight scene at the end that I couldn't do the math with the clock chimes (because Pearce had done such a BRILLIANT job in making them normal background noise).
ETA: And I can't believe I forgot this yesterday, but in the final fight sequence? Rosie? Who has just blown up a warehouse and then run really fast and then thrown a bunch of knives a pack of Fenris? KILLS THE ALPHA WITH HER BARE HANDS.
*breathes into a paper bag*
Ahem.
That said, the way the clues were doled out was pretty brilliant. I'm not a huge fan of figuring things out miles ahead of the characters, but there was no reason for them to suspect Jacob. The whole thing was very well structured, and the pacing was magnificent.
I loved the relationship between Rosie and Scarlett, how they reacted to one another and how they managed to be so similar and so different at the same time. The depth both girls have, and the bond between them, and then out to Silas, and even the cat, was incredible, and so believable it hurt. And they don't really have super powers, which is cool. They just work really hard. And use everything they can against the Fenris, including posing as the bait when necessary.
I really love that the novel was set modern day-ish, and only sort of had an otherworldly feel to it. The pictures Pearce painted of the woods, and the way she used words like "woodsman" and had the girls wear cloaks instead of coats...just gave the whole book this surreal, beautiful feel that I couldn't get enough of.
And the fight scenes. It's hard to write fight scenes. I hate writing fight scenes. The fight scenes in this book were so real I could very nearly smell them. It's an absolutely stunning achievement in prose. The opening and closing fights in particular, but also the epilogue, which was a fight of a different sort, and fairly bled off the page into my brain.
The ending, the epilogue, was spot on. I love the idea that they keep going, that they're true to themselves, and each other, in the end, even though it hurts. I did get a bit mad with Silas when he kissed Scarlett in the park, but her reaction was just so perfect that I couldn't hold it against him, and it was never played for drama, which I liked. Silas did come between them, sort of, but not in a stupid way, and I don't have to tell you how impressed I am about that.
Also, did I mention the part where Rosie SAVED HERSELF WITH AN EXPLOSION? Yeah, I kind of loved this book. :)
I've been pretty free with the 10 this year, but Sisters Red gets it too, for being so awesome I had to spend most of the last 50 pages breathing into a paper bag, for self-rescuing heroines, and for going the extra mile and not (quite) giving me the happily ever after.
...Sweetly doesn't come out until AUGUST. *sulks*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 02:19 am (UTC)And yes to the action scenes. They're really well done.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 02:23 am (UTC)(If you wanted to pass the review along, that would be great!)
When Rosie was "Think like Scarlett" I got really excited, and when I realized what her plan was, I nearly hyperventilated, and THEN she took down HALF A PACK OF WEREWOLVES and saved her boyfriend and Scarlett got to use her brain and take down the other half of the pack, and then USE HER BRAIN AGAIN and...yes.
*draws hearts and flowers around this book*
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 07:15 pm (UTC)THE PART WHERE ROSIE KILLS THE ALPHA WITH HER BARE HANDS!
OMG, I love this book.
*edits review to include more CAPSlocky flailing*