Princess of the Midnight Ball By Jessica Day George Release Date: Avaliable Now Bloomsbury Ratings Overall Purchase on Amazon Purchase at Powell’s Find independent bookstores

A tale of twelve princesses doomed to dance until dawn… Galen is a young soldier returning from war; Rose is one of twelve princesses condemned to dance each night for the King Under Stone. Together Galen and Rose will search for a way to break the curse that forces the princesses to dance at the midnight balls. All they need is one invisibility cloak, a black wool chain knit with enchanted silver needles, and that most critical ingredient of all—true love—to conquer their foes in the dark halls below. But malevolent forces are working against them above ground as well, and as cruel as the King Under Stone has seemed, his wrath is mere irritation compared to the evil that awaits Galen and Rose in the brighter world above.
(Amazon product description)

Jessica Day George taking on the Twelve Dancing Princesses was one of my dream books. Now if Shannon Hale will do it, I can never read another retelling of it again. I sped through this book as quickly as possible, and enjoyed George’s new twists and turns on the classic tale. Still, I should tell you that I requested and read this book a few months ago, and while I enjoyed it, I was never quite impassioned enough to write a long drawn out review. So take that for what you will. Even now, I remember it fondly, but nothing sticks out dramatically in my mind about the book, except for a scene where the King Under Stone attacks the Princesses’ castle.

I definitely recommend this book for those of you who love fairy tale retellings and fans of George’s other books. You just might want to check it out or wait till it’s in paperback though, because I’m not sure it’s worth full price hard cover.

Overall 4 - I really enjoyed this book, but at the same time I couldn’t find a lot to talk about with it. A good solid book, Jessica has brought a new twist to a tale I’ve always been fascinated by. Highly recommended for all her fans and any fairy tale fan.

Parents - 10+ Nothing naughty that I remember, its a good tale for fairytale lovers.

The Falconer’s Knot By Mary Hoffman Release Date: Avaliable Now Bloomsbury Ratings Overall Purchase on Amazon Purchase at Powell’s Find independent bookstores

Sixteen-year-old Silvano da Montacuto has wealth, good looks, a new hawk—and an infatuation with a merchant’s wife. When a man is murdered in his town, Silvano’s bloody dagger is found, and he is accused of the crime. For his own protection, he is sent to a Franciscan House, where he poses as a novice, or a young monk. There, he lays eyes on Chiara, a lovely novice at the nearby Abbey of the Poor Claires. Both Chiara and Silvano are put to work mixing paint pigments for a nearby basilica. But murder seems to have followed Silvano, and soon several other dead bodies turn up. Who is committing the crimes? Will a young man accused of multiple murders be able to clear himself? And what about the girl he adores?
(description from Goodreads)

This book enticed me by the cover. I love the intricate illustrations along the edge and the use of gold to attract my eye. Unfortunately, the cover let me down and the book was not nearly so complex and enticing.

Hoffman paints a beautiful picture and stunning portrait of medieval Italy. For the history and setting, I would recommend the book. The plot however, fell short of what I was expecting. The book is sold as a murder mystery, yet I always felt the mystery took a backseat to the setting and the final ending did not feel very well set-up. Hoffman took great efforts to make sure that no one seemed an obvious villain, yet that simply made me not believe that the final killer could have really done it. The motive was also relatively weak.

Overall – 3 - This book isn’t a bad weekend read, especially if you like medieval Italy. But, don’t expect too much out of it.

Parents - 13+ A few “impure thoughts” and such, but nothing much.

Publisher’s Weekly has a great review about the early reviews for Catching Fire, the sequel for The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

I know when I finished reading The Hunger Games, a little bit of me hated the person who introduced me to the books because she didn’t warn me it would end with me wanting so much more! I know like me, most readers can’t wait until the September release date, and it’s both nice and frustrating to see the great early reviews.

Read the full Publisher’s Weekly article to see what people are saying!

“Print Books Are Target of Pirates on the Web” Fascinating article on piracy and the ebook.

“Until recently, publishers believed books were relatively safe from piracy because it was so labor-intensive to scan each page to convert a book to a digital file. What’s more, reading books on the computer was relatively unappealing compared with a printed version.

Now, with publishers producing more digital editions, it is potentially easier for hackers to copy files. And the growing popularity of electronic reading devices like the Kindle from Amazon or the Reader from Sony make it easier to read in digital form. Many of the unauthorized editions are uploaded as PDFs, which can be easily e-mailed to a Kindle or the Sony device. ”

I personally think that the ease of pirating makes ebooks far more dangerous to traditional publishing than the idea that “paper books will go extinct.” Many of us like reading a paper book more than one on a screen, but if the one on the screen is “free” and the paper one is still costing us $10, its easy to see why some people would give in to temptation. Especially poor teens or those who live in other countries.

Still, paying for the book, whether its on paper or your computer screen is the only way authors see appreciation for their work and the only way they can hope to make a living and keep writing more books! Libraries are fine too, they purchase those copies (often at a higher price for a more durable book) and therefore they benifit the author as well.

I’ve seen the problems that piracy has been having on anime and manga for the last few years, and I really hope our American authors won’t have to deal with that as well.

I do find it interesting when authors put out their own “pirated” editions, like Cory Doctorow.
“Others view digital piracy as a way for new readers to discover writers. Cory Doctorow, a novelist whose young adult novel “Little Brother” spent seven weeks on the New York Times children’s chapter books best-seller list last year, offers free electronic versions of his books on the same day they are published in hardcover. He believes free versions, even unauthorized ones, entice new readers.

“I really feel like my problem isn’t piracy,” Mr. Doctorow said. “It’s obscurity.””

I read his book Little Brother because I found it for free. I plan to buy it as soon as its in paperback. But still, its the author’s choice, not the “fans”. I think ebook versions have plenty of pontential to be used as a marketing tool, and it does create buzz, but it should be under the author’s control. (Heck, its a great way for authors to create interest in their older out-of-print works as well.)

Now, I’d forgotten about this, but the collected first gn is out now. Not sure if I want to pick it up or not, but I did enjoy the first book (but not the fourth). So maybe I’ll check it out from the library so he doesn’t get any more of my money.

Good review of it here, on the School Library Journal.
“The story hasn’t gotten any better or worse than the original book. In fact NaRae Lee does a great job of getting the best bits of the story into the manga. For me the strength of this was the artwork. NaRae Lee really made Max and her flock come alive. From the horrible Erasers to the kids soaring through the air. (Though they do hide their wings remarkably well when they’re not in the air.) Fang does look a little bit too much like a girl to me. But I’ve always had that issue with manga.”

I was wondering how they’d deal with hiding the wings.