Cryer’s Cross by Lisa McMann

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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Everyone grows up with tales of Jackaroo, who rides on behalf of the people in times of greatest need, but everyone knows they’re just stories… As the innkeeper’s daughter, Gwyn is certain of her place in the world, but being stranded during a blizzard leads to a startling discovery and Gwyn begins to see the Kingdom in a new way. When Jackaroo rides out of legends to aid the people, he will change Gwyn’s life forever.

Rating:  ★★★★★ – it was amazing
Genre:  young adult fiction, young adult fantasy, non-magical fantasy
Pros:  well written, good character development, beautiful descriptive language
Cons:  needs POC

Jackaroo is the first in the loosely-connected Tales of the Kingdom series. Because they are “loosely-connected” all of the Kingdom novels can be read as stand-alone books, though I’m not sure why you’d want to skip any of them. I like that this is the first book in the series though, because it’s a little lighter than the next three and therefore an easier read and the perfect introduction to the world of the Kingdom.

This book is simultaneously a fantasy adventure about a Robin Hood-esque highwayman who shows up in times of need to serve the people, and a coming-of-age story about a young girl discovering her place in the world.

As with a lot of Cynthia Voigt’s characters I really love the way Gwyn thinks about things. She’s a somewhat steady girl, hard-working and strong. In the beginning she has a tendency to be a bit scornful of those around her, but she grows into a more understanding and insightful person as the story goes on, which is just one example of the satisfying character development to be found in Jackaroo.

Voigt’s world-building is subtle and immersive in a way one rarely finds in a fantasy novel. She lays out the Kingdom at the perfect pace, so that one never has too much information to keep track of, and always enough to understand what is going on in the story. Between that and her excellent use of descriptive language, the reader is swept up into the story and world with ease.

My only complaint about these books is the lack of POC. The closest it comes is having one character mentioned with “olive skin”, which is…disappointing. It’s not super surprising that a white author doesn’t think to put people of color in their story, especially in 1985 when this story was first published, but I can still wish it was different. It’s really the only thing I can think of that would improve this beautiful story.

I recommend this book, and it’s sequels, to literally everyone — but most especially to people who like fantasy, ya fiction, and coming-of-age novels, or anyone who is trying to read more backlist books.

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• Grab a book, any book (I, personally, prefer to use my current read.)
• Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that’s ok.)
• Find any sentence, (or few, just don’t spoil it)
• Post it

Jackaroo by Cynthia Voigt
(Tales of the Kingdom, book 1)

Whatever Blithe wanted, she wanted absolutely and immediately. There was no budging Blithe.

Well the broad answer would be:  YA Fiction.

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve tried general fiction (or adult fiction), but with few exceptions I typically find murder mysteries, which I don’t enjoy, or something claiming to be of some other genre, but is really just a vehicle for excessive and unnecessary sex scenes. I don’t begrudge a good smut scene, don’t get me wrong, but when there’s equal parts sex and plot, that’s unnecessary (unless you’re writing an erotic novel in which case, right on dude); when the sex scenes do nothing to serve the actual story, that’s unnecessary. I just want a story for heaven’s sake….

So I tend to stick to YA Fiction. Because even though there is romance (borderline excessive romance) and even sex scenes sometimes, for the most part there’s more story than anything else.

(I guess you can tell I don’t typically like to read romance novels either?)

To be more specific: YA Fantasy.

Perhaps it’s the fact that most fantasy novels involve battles and journeys and Adventure that make them the most enjoyable for me. Or maybe it’s the potential for mystical creatures and magic. Or maybe it’s just that it’s so very, very different from my real life.

There’s just something about a fantasy novel, a YA Fantasy novel specifically, that speaks to my imagination perfectly.

What are your favorite genres? Recommend me a book from your favorite genre, if you like.

I decided to interpret this prompt as “the type of book I usually read in one sitting” so here goes:

I’ve noticed that for the most part, I don’t usually read my favorite genre (YA Fantasy) in one sitting, but I’m not sure why. The genre I’m most likely to sit down and read all in one go is YA Contemporary, like the book I read last Thursday, Empress of the World (by Sara Ryan). That’s not to say there aren’t exceptions, but those usually have more to do with extenuating factors like lack of internet connection, unusually good writing (*cough* Cynthia Voigt *cough*), or the book being due back at the library the very next day.

The best I can figure, it must be the setting that does it. Because with a fantasy novel you have all this world building that goes into it, and with a contemporary novel it’s just your world so you can just jump right into it and go without having to remember where places are or how they do things or whatever.

Since I sort of mentioned her, I’ll point out that I can almost always read a Cynthia Voigt book in one sitting, regardless of genre. Unless something comes up that makes me have to stop reading, I won’t put a Cynthia Voigt book down until it’s over. (And possibly not even then.) I’ve read most of them several times over, but every single time I love them just as much as if it were the first time! I’ve never loved an author more honestly, as anyone who spends more than 30 seconds on this blog can probably tell.

Even if you’re not doing the read-a-thon, I’d love to know what sort of books you usually devour in one sitting, or even specific books you have (because I live for book recs, y’all). Comment (or reblog/message me if you are reading this on tumblr instead of wordpress) and let me know!

Forest of a Thousand Lanterns (FOTL) is Julie C. Dao’s debut novel and tells the story of the Evil Queen with an East Asian influence, which one imagines will add much needed depth as well as novelty to the story we all know.

The novel is set for release, in hardcover & kindle editions, in just under two weeks, on October 10, 2017, and is the first in a series (a duology or trilogy) entitled Rise of the Empress.

Bustle featured an article back in February with an excerpt from Chapter 1  of the upcoming novel, along with some other tidbits.

Personally, I’ve already submitted FOTL as a purchase suggestion to my local library, and am contriving to get my hands on a copy as soon as possible!

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