Mathias Malzieu - The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart

Title: The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart
Original title: La Mécanique du coeur
Author: Mathias Malzieu
Pub. year: 2007
Pages: 176
Editor: Chatto & Windus

Summary: Edinburgh, 1874: Little Jack is born with a frozen heart and immediately undergoes a life-saving operation — the implantation of a cuckoo-clock in his chest. From then on his days all begin with a wind-up, in this dark, tender fairy tale spiced with devilish humour.

That's usually more Muffin's kind of book than mine. The atmosphere really Burton-like that she loves is almost always in Mathias Malzieu's books. But sometimes I give it a go, 'cause, you know, I don't dislike it and I like to try new stuff, especially if a friend likes it. I'm not actually sure she read it anyway, so I'll talk about it!

So we discover this unusual boy who is stuck with this cuckoo-clock heart and tries to live with it. I won't say he's endearing but there's something about him that catches the eye. And obviously, his heart becomes a real problem at some point and he has to find a way to deal with it. That is without saying he has a very peculiar entourage that didn't always help him and let trouble grow in his mind.

It is a really poetic and grisly story, filled with melancholy and a musical rhythm that goes along the words. And sometimes less poetic words (which didn't melt really well with the vibes, IMO). Kind of a mash-up between Edgar Allan Poe and Tim Burton's work, maybe with an ounce of Terry Gilliam.

As I said earlier, it's not exactly the kind of book I go for, and once again I see why, but still I enjoyed it. I'm just not a big fan of that kind of atmosphere (and of the author's work, whether we're talking about his books or his band's music). But I know there's a lot of fans of this genre, so I wanted to share this French book with you!

Mathias Malzieu is the lead singer of the French band Dionysos, who tends to make concept-albums, and sometimes they come from books he wrote. That's what happened here, so you can totally listen to the album (La Mécanique du cœur) if you want this world to be following you after the reading!

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Derek Landy - Skulduggery Pleasant

Title: Skulduggery Pleasant (Skulduggery Pleasant, book 1)
Author: Derek Landy
Pub. year: 2007
Pages: 380
Editor: HarperCollins
Summary: Meet Skulduggery Pleasant:
Ace Detective
Snappy Dresser
Razor–tongued Wit
Crackerjack Sorcerer
and
Walking, Talking,
Fire-throwing Skeleton
—as well as ally, protector, and mentor of Stephanie Edgley, a very unusual and darkly talented twelve-year-old.

These two alone must defeat an all-consuming ancient evil.
The end of the world?
Over his dead body.

So, Muffin here gave me this book as a gift months ago but it took me a little while to read it. I was willing to, but you know, massive TBR pile and stuff... Anyway, now I've read it and really enjoyed it, so let's talk about it!

You kind of dive into this funny story full of sarcasm, skeleton, magic, crappy cars, bad guys who wants to rule the world, and so on.

Stephanie is a clever and determined girl, and I really like the fact that she wasn't "oh yay, magic is real and in five seconds I'm like a super duper magic badass". It's cleverly written and realistic—as far as it can be in a fantasy novel ;). And Skulduggery, this witty skeleton who made me think of Harry Dresden (from The Dresden Files), is endearing as he grow attached to Stephanie. I liked how he's not at all patronizing with her and take her not as a yound teenage girl but as a person who seems to him strong enough to take care of herself.
Plus, there's a whole bunch of other peculiar characters in those two's life, which makes it even more awesome.

Magic is a bit renewed here, even if there's obviously some clichés about it in the story, but it was quite well introduced and some of its specifications were quite appealing to me! Don't want to spoil it for you so you'll have to read it or trust me.

I thought it was a story mostly for children, but as I read it I realised it is one of those who can be read at any age. And that's pretty awesome. I enjoyed it very much myself so Yay against prejudice!
Now, you know what you have to do if you think you'll like it!

Quotes:

'If you hear any screaming,' he said, 'that'll be me.'

'The gap was gaping. It was a gaping gap.'

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Scott Lynch - Red Seas Under Red Skies

Title: Red Seas Under Red Skies
Author: Scott Lynch
Pub. year: 2007
Pages: 640
Editor: Gollancz

Summary: Escaping from the attentions of the Bondsmagi Locke Lamora, the estwhile Thorn of Camorr and Jean Tannen have fled their home city. Taking ship they arrive in the city state of Tal Varrar where they are soon planning their most spectacular heist yet; they will take the luxurious gaming house, The Sinspire, for all of its countless riches. No-one has ever taken even a single coin from the Sinspire that wasn't won on the tables or in the other games of chance on offer there. But, as ever, the path of true crime rarely runs smooth and Locke and Jean soon find themselves co-opted into an attempt to bring the pirate fleet of the notorious Zamira Drakasha to justice. Fine work for thieves who don't know one end of galley from another. And all the while the Bondsmagi are plotting their very necessary revenge against the one man who believes e has humiliated them and lived; Locke Lamora.

You should know already (if you read this for example) that I am very fond of this series started quite some time ago—but no so long for myself. Last summer, I had the utter delight to meet the wonderful story maker that Scott Lynch is through his first book, beginning the adventure of the wonderful Locke Lamora and his witty mates—all of them highly talented thieves and scammers of all sorts. And I totally fell in love with them. I waited almost a year to read the second one, knowing that we should see the next coming this autumn.
And I can't believe I managed to wait that long.

I don't want to say too much about the story but it's sufficient to mention that once again, Lynch managed to have many stories inside the story without losing the main thread, and the various twists make the whole thing even more exciting than it already is. It's almost as if there wouldn't be any time to breath with this intense action, but Lynch hasn't lost his passion for long and excruciatingly detailed descriptions that quite often cut the suspense with some sunset/seagull story. But I guess it's also what makes the the whole thing so easy to visualize, so... bear with the descriptions, it's worth it.

It's becoming harder and harder not to skip the story to read the dialogues first: yes, that's how good they are. I just love (and laugh) so much when Locke and Jean talk that it's a torture to wait for their next piece of chat. After the quite heavy emotions we got from the end of the first book, here again we manage to feel as sad and we felt happy minutes before, and as excited as we felt wary. The rush of emotions, though sometimes easily anticipated, is really enticing.
And now I'm thinking, how am I gonna do to wait for the next book?! Well, after reading the extract graciously provided on the author's website, and dancing around in joy at the prospect of seeing Sabetha at last, I guess I'll just bite my nails and wait, wait, wait...

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Timothée de Fombelle - Toby Alone

Title: Toby Alone (Tobie Lolness, book 1)
Original title: La Vie suspendue (Tobie Lolness, tome 1)
Author: Timothée de Fombelle
Pub. year: 2007
Pages: 400
Editor: Walker

Summary: Toby Lolness is just one and a half millimetres tall, and he’s the most wanted person in his world, the great oak Tree. When Toby’s father makes a ground-breaking discovery, tapping into the very heart of the Tree’s energy, he also realises that exploiting it could do permanent damage to their world. Refusing to reveal the secret of his invention to an enraged community, the family is exiled. But one man is determined to get hold of the forbidden knowledge ... and his plan is to destroy the Tree. Now Toby's parents have been imprisoned and sentenced to death. Only Toby has managed to escape, but for how long?

Toby Lolness is a two-parts saga that takes very little time to read. I've read each of these books in a few days only, maybe less.

This first book introduces us Toby, a 13 years old boy, who lives in the Tree. But the Tree is vast and a lot of tiny people live inside. There's the Treetop, the Lower Branches; the wise and kind people, the evil destructive people who are destroying the tree; and Toby, running for his life, after his parents have been imprisoned. Toby, trying to guess who is on his side, who is trying to catch him, and how to survive alone in the Tree, with almost everybody looking for him from the top to the roots. Luckily, he is not exactly alone all the way and he is full of resources!

Toby Lolness is a story about family, ecology, friendship, love, death, acceptance and so much more. But don't make the mistake to think that it's only a children book, for you can appreciate it even as grown-up. It's not patronizing, as some might be. It's just a story of a young teenager forced to leave his home, going even as far as the Ground Beyond, trying to live his life and saving his family while staying optimistic and hopeful.

After reading this book, you'll probably want to read the sequel (Toby and the Secrets of the Tree), so maybe you should aquire the two in one go. Like I said, it's a really fast reading so you can easily read them one after the other.

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Scott Lynch - The Lies of Locke Lamora

Title: The Lies of Locke Lamora (The Gentlemen Bastards, book 1)
Author: Scott Lynch
Pub. year: 2007
Pages: 544
Editor: Gollancz

Summary: After a devastating plague, a man known as the Thiefmaker pays off the city guard to allow him to take in thirty newly-orphaned individuals, whom he plans to train as thieves. One orphan sneaks into the group of paid children, "thirty-one of thirty". The Thiefmaker soon discovers that this one child, Locke Lamora, is extremely clever but not "circumspect", and is a liability due to his lack of foresight or restraint. The Thiefmaker decides to sell Locke to Chains, a priest of the Nameless Thirteenth god, the Crooked Warden who protects thieves. Chains uses his temple as a front to operate the Gentlemen Bastards, where they play confidence games on the city's richest citizens, in defiance of the Secret Peace.

This summary is probably not the best you've ever seen, and it certainly doesn't do justice to this book—mind you, I couldn't find anything else, and God knows I am bad at making them myself. One thing you need to know about this book: it's awesome. I know, I know, always telling you about good books... but who cares about the bad ones? Well, I don't, so here I am, telling you about something good again. Awesome even. Wanna know more?

Locke Lamora, as the title says, is what you could call a pretty good liar. But not the petty kind of lie where you try to cover a missing assignment or something: the kind where you take a false identity and set up a scam so great it's going to cost the victim a good deal of its fortune. Because like Robin Hood, Locke steals only the wealthiest, though he doesn't give to the poor; everything goes to the vault of his "church", where he and his little gang stack up all they need for their crimes. And everything could have been "happily ever after" if some Grey King didn't appear suddenly, killing garristas, blackmailing the Master of thieves and using Locke against his will to cause a great commotion that will probably cost too many lives.

Oh, here I am, making a summary after all. Well, now you know what it is really about, the gangs, the scams, the bloody Grey Kind and his mess. But one thing you still don't know is that: not only the characters living in this puzzling world are original, they also have a terrific charisma—starting with Locke, this genius, this weird gentleman that knows enough and has enough nerves to pretend being anyone in order to get what he wants (and I tell you, he does get it!), and also his crew, the devil twins Calo and Galdo, the strong Jean and the snoopy Bug. Just for the sake of this bunch, you should read this book. So if I tell you that many other characters are as much interesting, that the chapters about the Gentlemen Bastards' childhood are as hilarious as the ones about present times are gripping, that the city of Camorr is as full of mysteries and surprises as a good Fantasy book should be (though I must admit, the beginning tends to be slow and over-descriptive, you need to hang on before catching the ride), well...

I said enough, didn't I? How could you not like it? And even more: how could you know if you don't try? And like it all you want, there are still many to come, Read Seas Under Red Sky is waiting and so is the rest of the series!

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China Miéville - Un Lun Dun

Title: Un Lun Dun
Author: China Miéville
Pub. year: 2007
Pages: 521
Editor: Pan Macmillan

Summary: Stumbling through a secret entrance, Zanna and Deeba enter the strange wonderland of UnLondon. Here all the lost and broken things of London end up, and some of its people too - including Brokkenboll, boss of the broken umbrellas, and Hemi the half-ghost boy.

But the two girls have arrived at a dangerous time. UnLondon is a place where words are alive, where a jungle lurks behind the door of an ordinary house, where carnivorous giraffes stalk the streets... and a sinister cloud called Smog is bent on destruction. It's a frightened city in need of a heroine...

When I first heard about Un Lun Dun, I thought "sounds like Neverwhere by Gaiman" (which has been in my TBR pile for a while) and I didn't want to read 2 similar books one after the other. But I don't know why, when I saw this one's cover, I just wanted to buy it and read it as soon as possible—which I did.

China Miéville has an impressive imagination and even in the foggy, dark and a bit scary world he writes about, he manages to put slices of humour that are really enjoyable. The illustrations aren't too much to help us picturing the characters he depicts. The story is full of mystery enhanced by the mist around and the threat of pollution that lays around. There's a lot of different parts in the evolution of the main frame so it leaves no time for boredom.

Apart from that, I felt a lot of references during the reading, to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Neil Gaiman's world, Ghibli movies, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and so on (some of them are confirmed at the end of the book, I might be wrong for the others) and really appreciated it!



Therefore, this book was a great discovery. Now I'm curious about Miéville's other works! Luckily I have another book he wrote in my TBR Pile (even if the beginning looks complicated): The City & The City.

Quotes :

"The hautest of couture. Be entertained while you wear. Never again need you face the misery of unreadable clothes. Now you can pick up your favorite works of fiction or non-fiction for your sleeves. Perharps a classic for the trousers. Poetry for you skirt. Historiography for socks. Scripture for knickers. Learn while you dress !"

"If you're brave enough to try, you might be able to catch a train from UnLondon to Parisn't, or No York, or Helsunki, or Lost Angeles, or Sans Fransisco, or Hong Gone, or Romeless... It's a terminus."

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John Scalzi - Old Man's War

Title: Old Man's War
Author: John Scalzi
Pub. year: 2007
Pages: 320
Editor: Tor Books

Summary : With his wife dead and buried, and life nearly over at 75, John Perry takes the only logical course of action left him: he joins the army. Now better known as the Colonial Defense Force (CDF), Perry's service-of-choice has extended its reach into interstellar space to pave the way for human colonization of other planets while fending off marauding aliens. The CDF has a trick up its sleeve that makes enlistment especially enticing for seniors: the promise of restoring youth. After bonding with a group of fellow recruits who dub their clique the Old Farts, Perry finds himself in a new body crafted from his original DNA and upgraded for battle, including fast-clotting "smartblood" and a brain-implanted personal computer. All too quickly the Old Farts are separated, and Perry fights for his life on various alien-infested battlegrounds.

I took the liberty of putting the awesome cover of the Subterranean Press edition instead of the ugly Tor one—I hope you don't mind. I thought that maybe, with a nicest cover, more people would try it... because let's admit it, not only the ugly cover but also the summary doesn't really give you the sudden urge to read this book. Doesn't work with me, at least—and yes, I'm not a huge hard SF fan, so sue me. But that, dear, that would be a great mistake. Because this is not hard SF. This is not a boring scientific book for nerds full of battleships and the likes. This, my lovely little bunnies, is the funniest and most awesome SF book I had the chance to read for a very long time.

I usually aren't that fond of old people, especially an old hero, but this one is an amazing old guy. His wife died and he realises that nothing really awaits for him anymore, so instead of wasting his last years, he enrolls in the Colonial Defense Force. Some people say that they only take in old people to make them young again before sending them to battle... and being young again is the dream of a big part of these old jeezers. Perry soon becomes friends with a bunch of them, naming themselves the Old Farts. Along with him being sent to weird planets needing to be protected from Aliens attacks, we follow the adventures of those guys, how they meet, how they live, how they die.

Yes, it's mostly about fun, but it's also about dying. The whole book is a deeply human adventure where people think about their lives, about all they lost, and all they will lose. About the right they have to conquer those planets, their right to kill other species for their own survival. About the rightness of their choices. Yes, you will have fun, this I can guarantee. You will also see the stars, some ships, some amazing technologic discoveries and some weird creatures, and the trip will take you to the end of the universe and back. But Perry will keep your feet on earth, that's for sure. Lucky you, if you miss him already, there are three sequels - not that any mystery is left at the end of the first book but I must say, more of this, it's hard to say no!

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Shaun Tan - The Arrival

Title: The Arrival
Author: Shaun Tan
Pub. year: 2007
Pages: 128
Editor: Arthur A. Levine Books

Summary: The Arrival is a migrant story told as a series of wordless images that might seem to come from a long forgotten time. A man leaves his wife and child in an impoverished town, seeking better prospects in an unknown country on the other side of a vast ocean. He eventually finds himself in a bewildering city of foreign customs, peculiar animals, curious floating objects and indecipherable languages. With nothing more than a suitcase and a handful of currency, the immigrant must find a place to live, food to eat and some kind of gainful employment. He is helped along the way by sympathetic strangers, each carrying their own unspoken history: stories of struggle and survival in a world of incomprehensible violence, upheaval and hope.

What a better way to talk about a book than the author’s way? This simple plot summary contains all the essential elements that will make you fall in love with the story: images all over the place, small and square, big and bright, overwhelming and poetic. No words seem to be necessary to convey all the feelings the author is trying to pass on. We leave the protagonist’s family along with him, taking in the sadness, the fear of the unknown. This unknown that proves to be unbearable at first, full of questions that we don’t understand, of papers we cannot read, of things we don’t recognize and other that are almost frightening. The giant city is impersonal, overwhelming once again: giant buildings like monsters, strange people and pets everywhere, strange jobs that we cannot take... and in the midst of it all, some people are here to lend a hand, to tell their own stories, their own arrival, and we marvel with them at the beauty of it all.

I think I said it all already, but Shaun Tan really has this magical touch with drawing, this unmistakable talent that makes his stories alive, touching, engraving themselves in your mind forever. By choosing subjects that anyone relates to, like being a stranger somewhere, helping someone who is lost, reuniting with your family, he ensures that the message is received by every reader, big or small, old or young. Because the only size that matters to love one of his book is just the size of your heart.

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