var. MG fantasy by Eva Ibbotson
Dec. 29th, 2010 07:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreI’ve only read one of Eva Ibbotson’s books-The Countess Below Stairs-before these, and they’re pretty much unrecognizable as being by the same person. CBS (originally marketed as historical fiction, I believe, but currently categorized as YA romance) is very very pure and wholesome and a very idealized version of early 20th century aristocracy. In contrast, the MG fantasy books are funny, sometimes bizarre, often more than a bit morbid, and tend to end up with a “kitchen sink“ feel.
I was leery going in because I’d seen them compared to Harry Potter, but, well, what isn’t these days? But I’d particularly seen the writing style and “just go with it” approach to the world building and fantasy compared, and those are what kept me from being able to enjoy Harry Potter at all, even before the plot and Harry started really annoying me. But I didn’t have that problem at all here, though I frequently raised my eyebrows at some of the goings on, and it helped me understand why some of my friends who got into HP as an adult credit it to HP reminding them of British children’s fantasy they read as a kid. (Urm…Ibbotson is also a much better writer than Rowling, IMO, but that’s subjective.)
Which Witch? is about a warlock born to be very, very bad who is looking for an equally bad witch to be his wife. A very, very good witch who tries hard to be bad every once in a while just for variety, but can’t manage it falls in love with him. Hijinks ensue. The Secret of Platform 13 features a prince from the magic world who was kidnapped by a selfish human woman when he was a baby, and an oddball group from the magic world is sent to find him years later, as you can only cross between the two worlds at certain times. Hijinks ensue. Island of the Aunts is about sisters who watch over an island full of mythical creatures who realize that they’ll need successors, and so they kidnap a trio of what they believe are unhappy children. Potentially world-destroying hijinks ensue. Dial-A-Ghost is about an orphan who learns he’s heir to an estate, and his evil cousins rent evil ghosts from an agency that finds homes for ghosts, only to have nice and friendly ghosts who adopt the boy arrive instead. And then the bad ghosts come anyway. Very shrieky hijinks ensue. The Beasts of Clawstone Castle is about a pair of siblings who give tours of their castle in order to keep their lands (and rare, purebred white cattle) but who are still going broke due to the much more successful cstle nearby. Then child relatives come to visit and recruit friendly ghosts to help out, and more shrieky hijinks ensue. Journey to the River Sea is the only non-fantasy one of the lot, and I think also the only historical one, being set in 1910. Basically, British boarding school girl is sent to Brazil to live with evil relatives, befriends and actor and a native boy, at least one of whom is a Secret Heir, hijinks ensue. 1910 Brazil was basically indistinguishable from everything I’ve read and seen set in England about that time and…well, I didn’t dislike the book, but it was significantly less fun than the others.
Nonr of these will go on a “favorite books” list for me, but I wouldn’t turn down a reread, and will probably grab any others by Ibbotson that I see for a good price.
Note to self: get around to changing YA tag to YA/MG/kids.
I was leery going in because I’d seen them compared to Harry Potter, but, well, what isn’t these days? But I’d particularly seen the writing style and “just go with it” approach to the world building and fantasy compared, and those are what kept me from being able to enjoy Harry Potter at all, even before the plot and Harry started really annoying me. But I didn’t have that problem at all here, though I frequently raised my eyebrows at some of the goings on, and it helped me understand why some of my friends who got into HP as an adult credit it to HP reminding them of British children’s fantasy they read as a kid. (Urm…Ibbotson is also a much better writer than Rowling, IMO, but that’s subjective.)
Which Witch? is about a warlock born to be very, very bad who is looking for an equally bad witch to be his wife. A very, very good witch who tries hard to be bad every once in a while just for variety, but can’t manage it falls in love with him. Hijinks ensue. The Secret of Platform 13 features a prince from the magic world who was kidnapped by a selfish human woman when he was a baby, and an oddball group from the magic world is sent to find him years later, as you can only cross between the two worlds at certain times. Hijinks ensue. Island of the Aunts is about sisters who watch over an island full of mythical creatures who realize that they’ll need successors, and so they kidnap a trio of what they believe are unhappy children. Potentially world-destroying hijinks ensue. Dial-A-Ghost is about an orphan who learns he’s heir to an estate, and his evil cousins rent evil ghosts from an agency that finds homes for ghosts, only to have nice and friendly ghosts who adopt the boy arrive instead. And then the bad ghosts come anyway. Very shrieky hijinks ensue. The Beasts of Clawstone Castle is about a pair of siblings who give tours of their castle in order to keep their lands (and rare, purebred white cattle) but who are still going broke due to the much more successful cstle nearby. Then child relatives come to visit and recruit friendly ghosts to help out, and more shrieky hijinks ensue. Journey to the River Sea is the only non-fantasy one of the lot, and I think also the only historical one, being set in 1910. Basically, British boarding school girl is sent to Brazil to live with evil relatives, befriends and actor and a native boy, at least one of whom is a Secret Heir, hijinks ensue. 1910 Brazil was basically indistinguishable from everything I’ve read and seen set in England about that time and…well, I didn’t dislike the book, but it was significantly less fun than the others.
Nonr of these will go on a “favorite books” list for me, but I wouldn’t turn down a reread, and will probably grab any others by Ibbotson that I see for a good price.
Note to self: get around to changing YA tag to YA/MG/kids.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-30 03:12 pm (UTC)