I read a lot of young adult books, so I can say with some bit of authority that it’s not too often a novel like Rick Yancey’s THE CURSE OF THE WENDIGO comes along. It’s macabre and nuanced, a Gothic horror novel wrapped in a literary package. And told through the eyes of a 12-year-old boy.
It’s the rare YA that pushes the boundaries of the genre and isn’t afraid to use a vocabulary beyond what you’d expect. “Don’t know what I’m on about,” the book seems to say (but in a gorgeous, visually lush voice), “look it up.” Here’s a bit from the opening of Chapter 12: “He had spoken of it as one speaks of a lover. The eternally young, fertile bride; the ancient, barren spinster; the siren; the sibyl — she was all these things at once for whom he denied himself the companionship of mere mortal company, against whom even the breathtaking Muriel Chanler paled.”
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Yes, a pop-up book. Is there no end to the HARRY POTTER-themed merchandise? And this is coming from a devout follower of the Church of Harry.
The cover to this large, illustrated pop-up book didn’t give me much hope — it features a gorgeous background, but has a vaguely Daniel Radcliffe-esque Harry on the front riding Buckbeak the hippogriff. Visually, it’s pretty, but as a fan, the first thing I thought was, “Buckbeak? That’s totally from PRISONER OF AZKABAN. I mean, really?” Translated from nerdese, the sentiment there is basically that the pop-up book prominently features a creature that only really plays into the third book of the seven-book series.
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I am an unapologetic Harry Potter fan. I’ve read the books multiple times; I attend the midnight premiers; I have very defined feelings about Remus Lupin. You want me on your team for the HP questions on trivia night.
Yet I’m usually leery of books about Harry that aren’t, you know, written by J.K. Rowling. Before the series was complete, these type of unauthorized “companions” were everywhere, espousing theories on Voldemort and Snape, on whether Harry would live or die, or end up making out with Hermione (that one’s blasphemy, by the way). I had elaborate theories, too — every fan did — but you didn’t see me tossing them about in book form. That, I believed, was for Rowling to do, not fans.
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Stephenie Meyer’s third book in her Bella saga, ECLIPSE, ended on a high note, questioning the future of the protagonist and her immortal love interest and with the promise that the sappy, “my soul isn’t complete without you” melodrama was at a close. The final installment of BREAKING DAWN, however, takes that high note, shoves it into a ruffled wedding dress and beats it to death with a high-heeled white shoe.
I excitedly cracked open BREAKING DAWN on the day it came out in anticipation of Bella’s heartbreaking decision to choose Edward, the annoyingly perfect vampire, or Jacob, her werewolf best friend who loved her for her. Instead, the story plunged right into pre-wedding bliss — not a whiff of conflict anywhere.
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