Heartless Lyn @ Great Imaginations

This is so much better than the first book....I actually LIKE Karou. I love how her character is becoming a force more powerful than the anger and the violence of the world.

*looks at Boneshaker*

*looks at awesome ARC pile*

Review: Since we tightened the budget in the house and cut out paying for TV (we have streaming Netflix, DVDs and good friends), my sister has taken it upon herself to snoop around in my bookshelves and delve back into her reading. This was one of the books she decided to snag when I recommended it to her, warning her that I have only read some reviews. Afterwards, she insisted that I add this to my reading list right away.

A Curse as Dark as Gold is something I never expected. This fairytale retelling of the German Rumpelstiltskin delivers a beautiful and powerful tale about survival, stubborn will, and the power of love in many forms.

The novel spans over many years, so the novel focuses on the development and the relationships of Charlotte and Rosie Miller’s small, tight knit community, Stirwaters. The town is highly dependent on the woolen mill that is owned by the Miller family. Charlotte takes up command of the ill-fated family business when her father passes away. One strong positive aspect of the book is the focus on love and dedication to people. Heads up, YA genre – there is more than just romantic love! It was refreshing to see a novel depict the variety of the bonds of love. There is a sweet romantic portion of the book for both sisters, but the novel (thankfully) used Charlotte’s loyalty and affection for her workers and her town to drive the story.

Charlotte was a nice, well rounded character. She (at times) seemed wiser than her years, but her soft heart, her stubborn attitude, and her behavior in dealing with major problems helped create a strong yet realistic female lead. At times, I wanted to shake her when she turned away from trusting the people she loved, but, on the other hand, I understood her hesitance to let the people inside to assist her when events took a turn for the worse. The miller’s daughter went out of her way to save everyone, and made some very troubling choices. She did it all for the sake of those she loved. I adored Charlotte, and I loved that she and I shared a flawed connection.

The romance in this book – high praises! Charlotte and Rosie’s sweet love stories were so different, yet endearing. Charlotte marries in the book (since the fairytale calls for the first born), and I was shocked to find that I found this a welcomed part of the story. In so many young adult fiction books, the goal is to date or attract the other person. However, Charlotte steps past the “happily ever after” and must attempt to balance a married life along with her slew of conflicts. I believe it is fair to depict a marriage in an adolescent book. Most of the fairy tales and the romance never focus on the “forever” part. It takes hard work and personal growth to make a relationship work. A majority of young readers will marry eventually – why not show the truth of the life after the wedding, and what is to come?

Lastly, the villain situation in this novel was very entertaining and original. The story introduces struggle in many forms – a mysterious and misogynistic family member, a struggle to understand the “curse” of the mill, and the fantasy element of the fairytale antagonist. There is no definite “good” and “evil." Everyone has a hand in the conflict and the resolution. There are some characters that lean more towards villain than hero, but each person in the tale had a fair balance of both qualities  Too many times, there is a clear line between the good guys and the bad guys. A Curse as Dark as Gold steps out of the black and white realm and portrays a more realistic approach to conflict and resolution.

I will say that I was overall highly pleased with the story. I felt that, at times, I was a little lost in the terminology and the culture of the wool mill lifestyle, but the story takes a bold step and tells a very lively and heartfelt story. I highly recommend this for fairytale twister lovers, and this book would be ideal for an October read.

Not much enjoyment from goodreads lately but this little feedback group bit cracked me up:

I am two (about to be three) book reviews behind already. And the new Pokemon is now out. And I want to watch Star Trek. And I need to catch up on comments.

Really, I need to write these damned reviews.

I know this book has so-so reviews, but so far, I am LOVING this book! It is slightly fluffy and talks a bit over my head, but I needed this right now.

This one was a long time coming.  I often saw this book pop up in my feeds, and everyone seemed very enchanted with the story. I feel a bit torn on my final rating. On one hand, it was a very different and beat-to-its-own-drum type of writing. Taking a chance generally scores well with me. However, the lack of pacing for the first part of the book and some characters I could have done without left me feeling a bit cheated.

For the most part, I did have a nice experience with this book. I actually enjoyed September's bittersweet personality.  It is a rarity to see a book written from a child's POV and actually feel like you are in the shoes of an honest-to-goodness child.  I appreciated Valente's hints at some very adult-like occurrences happening inside of September's world, such as her soldier father and her Rosie the Riveter mother.  The youthful main character seemed to be on the outside while the reader understood the subtle message delivered by the boastful narrator.  Ell, the book-born Wyvern, added a special magical touch to the entire novel.  The colorful descriptions and the oddity of characters was a pleasant reminder of traveling to lands created by imagination and childhood explanations. If you enjoyed The Phantom Tollbooth, then this one is going to be right up the same alley.

I must sadly admit that I did have to struggle through the first half of the book.  While the descriptions and the people were highly entertaining and unique, I did feel that the first part was just a huge, wandering path to nothing in particular.  I wasn't sure what I was reading, and where the book was going.  I also did not care a bit for Saturday, the emo-role male protagonist.  If he had come in a bit sooner, I think it would have worked out for the better.

I am rushing a bit to my final say, because there is a reason I added a whole star to my rating (yes, I was going to give this book 3 stars, but I changed my mind).  This portion might be a bit spoiler-inducing for some readers, so be warned:

I tend avoid spoiling anything, but I have to get this out of my head onto the screen, or paper, or whatever.

I think the last chapters of the book warrants this to be a possible future classic, because the moral of the story shook me up.  

The reader finds out that the "villain" is indeed a recycled  well-loved hero. The loss of the safety and the enchantment of Fairyland twisted the first good queen's heart into a thing of darkness and caused her to become the ruin of the land she once ruled with kindness and goodness. The Marquess implemented adult restrictions on the land to bring order and sense to a mad world.

For those of us who lamented that symbolism is dead, then please rejoice this book.  

Who of us here wish to escape back into our old childhood and relive the days when it took so little to be so good and so carefree? As adults, we can try to return back to the past and become immersed in the things and the state of mind that brought us bliss, but we can't go back.  A trip to the amusement park reminds us all of the steep price of food and the long lines at the rides. Watching cartoons comes with a small voice saying that you have other things to be doing.  Dolls and toys become collectibles living inside the safe plastic homes of packaging. 

Sure, we can try to go back.  But we're ruined and unwelcomed.  Our adultism has already been set in place. We can't be carefree anymore. No matter how good or bad, how smart or dim, how obedient or unruly we were as children, it amounts to the same - when our clock runs out, we are kicked out of childhood. Every single one of us. We need jobs and homes and food and love.  Just like Mallow's clock at the end, we can't stay forever. We have to go back, and we're not wanted back.

I cried.

I cried because the heavy burden of a girl with her wonderment ripped out of her hands could be any one of us. A lye (lie) can bring us back, but we're changed, and we are not the sweet little heroes of our childhood. We're now the imposing adult figures who clamp dreams and restrict questions. We're the villains now.

And it stung my heart to understand what the Marquess was feeling. 

Overall - lovely writing, lovely message, a bit slow in some parts.  I hope to read the sequel soon.

Twilight has its (many) faults, but I just had to add this, because I agree with the theme of the thread:

“We love having authors on Goodreads. But, we are a site that's focused on readers.  If there is a choice between what is best for readers and what is best for authors, we will always err on the side of readers.” 

"I've watched us deal with many author flame wars over the years, and they all started with an author commenting on a negative review of their own book first." 

This morning I wrote a blog 

Otis Chandler on Censorship & Goodreads being a site for Readers First, I forgot a very relevant link of GR's sales presentations showing how our data is of no. 1 prime importance to them, and how we as readers are only now valued because we can supply this data they can make money from.

Have a look at this: 

Goodreads Marketing Presentations

There is nothing about keeping us happy, no concessions to us that we would like if it conflicts with their revenue stream. I know Goodreads is a business, but we've been deliberately manipulated into thinking of it as 'our' site, 'our' online bookclub that we have participated in, in our thousands, adding and editing millions of bits of book data as 'librarians'. Every damn thing we did, from putting in our email addresses when we registered up to and including writing carefully-considered, very detailed reviews was just more product to be sold.  Unpaid volunteers for a billion dollar company, I suffer from cognitive dissonance as much as the next person so I don't want to call myself stupid, but...

Nation by Terry Pratchett – This was my first Pratchett book (even though I am surrounded by his fans in my life) and I can say that I was astounded on the honestly and the relationships in the book.  True to Pratchett’s nature, it is very anti-religious, and the message about survival and self discovery has resonated with me for a long time.

I also have a list of my top ten books from 2012 at Great Imaginations!

The subject is crap but Dawid's comment makes it awesome so you have to see it.

AnHeC managed to make it on STGRB's brand spanking new BookLike's Sidebar of Popularity for no reason other than her Friends list.

Dawid's comment deserves All The Likes:

http://anhec.booklikes.com/post/498412/did-you-know-that-a-list-of-badly-behaving-booklikers-was-created-

I can't express how relieved I am that someone gives a damn about our safety on this site. I am honestly choked up with emotions because this site honestly wants us to be safe.

I wish I had known about this site sooner. 

Not to beat a dead horse, bookies, but I needed this today.

I want to do this,and I might just do it here on BL instead of gunking up the blog.

I think October would be perfect to start it.