What a wonderful, magical, original, beautifully told story! It has made such a welcome change to the sort of teen fiction that I've been reading recently. The sad thing is that it had been sat on my shelf for about 6 months and I was never keen on reading it. What a treat I was missing. The only way I can describe the writing is like a mixture of Perfume and Chocolat - it has the essence of a beautiful, unusual French piece of literature, with a magical fairy tale thrown in. Even though I loved the whole book, I found I enjoyed the second half much better, as it is more about Ava herself, rather than her family tree background which takes up the first half.
Ava Lavender was born with something rather unusual - wings. She was also one of twins - her brother didn't speak at all until he was nearly a teenager, and only then either in a different language or when he only had something really important to say. The problem was, that people didn't understand the importance of his strong link to his sister or the importance of what he had to say, until it was too late.
The book is about intense love, jealousy, being different, acceptance, strong bonds and desires, wickedness, misunderstandings - in fact everything life can throw at you, but in a magical fairy tale way.
Tinder
by Sally Gardner
The setting is Breitenfeld in November 1642, the midst of the Thirty Years War. Otto Hundebiss is an 18-yr-old soldier fighting for the Imperial Army who are soon to lose the battle against the Swedes. He is wounded - a bullet in his side and a sword in the shoulder - and he is suddenly facing Death himself. But it is not yet Otto's time. Instead he is confronted by a half-man half beast who cleans his wounds and gives him a gift of dice which, when rolled, will tell him which way to travel.
On his journey he meets with the beautiful flame-haired Safire and falls in love. But their meeting is short-lived. She is being tracked by huntsmen and runs off alone through the forest. He vows to find her again, and his travels take him to a ghostly castle where he uncovers truths he should not hear and beasts that will follow him for the rest of his journey. He acquires a magical tinderbox which he cannot dispose of, but which he will find to be of more use than he at first imagined.
This is a beautifully told rendition of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Tinderbox, which I haven't read but will now seek out. Sally's mastery of the language of a fairy story is excellent. It is so wonderful to escape into such a world, such a refreshing change from other novels around at the moment, but yet the story itself contains the same pieces as a modern one - love, jealousy, war, death, sorrow.
The copy I read was a proof sent by the publisher with a few sketches by the illustrator David Roberts (whose brilliant drawings can be seen in the Dirty Bertie books, The Tales of Terror series by Chris Priestley, and many many others). The final edition will contain over 100 black and white images, so I may have to buy that one too.
The School for Good and Evil
by Soman Chainani
Sophie and Agatha are friends in an almost fairytale world - Sophie is the beautiful blond princess who longs to be rescued by a handsome prince and Agatha is the dark sulky girl with no other friends and whose mother appears to be a witch. Even though they are not actually living in a fairytale, it could be that they soon will. Every four years, two children (one good, one evil) are whisked away in the dead of night to attend one of two schools - either the School for Good, or the School for Evil, and end up in their own fairytale story. Sophie hopes she will be the one chosen for the School for Good as she yearns to live happily ever after with her prince, and she has done nothing but good deeds for the last four years to make sure she earns her place. However, things do not go to plan for either her or Agatha. They are both whisked away, but Sophie is cast into the School for Evil, and Agatha into the School for Good. Agatha is determined to save her friend and escape back to their homeland, but Sophie has other things on her mind - to swap places with Agatha and live out her dream in the School for Good. They both battle fairies, monsters, wolves, the High Master, even other students to get what they want, until they realise they must work together and solve a riddle to even stand a chance of escaping.
A fast-paced, funny, action-packed, thrilling ride of an adventure, children of 10 and over will love this book, which is the first of a trilogy. It is also going to be made into a film, which should be superb to watch.
Go to the dedicated website http://schoolforgoodandevil.com/ to take an exam to see which school you'd be put into!
