Chilled to the Bone: A Wintergirls Review.

Alright, so it's book reviewing time again. Wheeee. Just a disclaimer before we start: yes I know this book was published in 2009. Yes I know that was five years ago, my limited math ability can tell me that much. Thanks. I just feel like sharing some thoughts about this book, because I think it's important. And if a book is important I don't care when it was published or how late I am on the bandwagon, because I'm going to damn well jump on it.

Okay, so let's start by saying this is not my first attempt at reading this book. In my younger days of reading yore I picked up this book at the library, thinking it would be about girls with ice and snow powers. Needless to say I read the first few pages, freaked out, and returned it to the library shortly afterward. And, honestly, at the time that was probably best. I wasn't ready for this book yet in terms of maturity or even understanding of the topic, considering I had only a vague grasp of what anorexia even was. Flash forward to 2013 and I'm buying this book for four bucks at a secondhand book store, more than willing to give it another go. It spent a good amount of time on my shelf before I finally picked it up, as most of my books do, but I'm glad I finally read this thing. I am happy that I waited until now though, as middle-school-me would've had nightmares about this for weeks.

I hate people who call this book an "anorexia" book. In fact, I harbor a similar dislike for people who call The Fault in Our Stars a "cancer" book. Ugh. If this was an "anorexia" book as you say, it would be an informative nonfiction, probably about the psychological aspects of anorexia. It's not. This is a story about a girl named Lia who is completely frozen by her eating disorder. Laurie Halse Anderson could probably have written an "anorexia" book in her sleep, but instead she chose to convey her message in a different way. This is a beautiful piece of contemporary YA literature, that makes its point through elaborate storytelling and characters. Not an "anorexia" book.

Our characters are both multi-layered and altogether human. The best example of this is probably our main character, Lia, who's voice is hauntingly real. Lia is genuinely convinced that she is being strong by starving herself, even to the point of wasting away to nothingness. Her parents do little to help her either, as they are convinced that Lia does not want to get better, and sometimes even yell at her for not being able to fix herself. Cassie's ghost that haunts Lia acts as Lia's subconscious, whispering little evils into her ear and perpetuating her illness to the point of death. Laurie Halse Anderson expertly weaves Lia's voice here, as it is completely authentic and often terrifying in scope. This book contains scenes where Lia's thought process becomes borderline suicidal, to the point where she doesn't care if she lives or dies. It's a poignantly beautiful stream of consciousness narrative, and one that gives an honest look into the psyche of someone struggling with anorexia.

The plot is one that starts to unravel more and more as the story progresses. Laurie Halse Anderson decides to skip the formalities of introduction, instead plunging us headlong into Lia's thoughts. We know that Lia's best friend Cassie died but we don't know how, and we're also not sure about the nature of their relationship. Lia's past regarding her treatment is hazy as well, as she only refers to it in a negative light. In this way the story plays out through Lia's troubled mind, something that makes her journey all the more real. Events that she previously construed as negative eventually become more clear, and story line threads are revealed only through her own careful deliberation. It's an intriguing and enlightening lens to read a story through, as it effectively keeps the plot fresh.

Laurie Halse Anderson knows what she's doing with the imagery here. There are so many beautiful and occasionally even uncomfortable images here I couldn't list them all. One of them includes Lia referring to herself as trapped in a glass box, another is Lia calling her own body a canvas for her self harm. The titular metaphor, however, is one of Lia frozen. She's not living or dead, she's a wintergirl. Frozen both physically and psychologically. Throughout the story she begins to freeze solid, and on occasion thaw until she is whole again.

This is a keeper. I liked this more than Speak, in fact.
So basically, Laurie Halse Anderson is a warrior princess.
4/5 stars.

Peace. Love. Inkwells.

~The Inkling.

LORDE.

At this point, I may have to change the tagline of my blog to: "Book reviews, music, and maybe some other random crap". Sorry guys. I just can't resist gushing about one of my more recent musical obsessions. Her name is Ella Yelich-O'Connor, but you probably know her as Lorde, the New Zealand goddess who is taking the music world by storm. Her hair is also amazingly voluminously brunette.

If you haven't listened to her album, Pure Heroine, then go pick yourself up a copy. Buy it on iTunes, acquire it suspiciously off the Internet, download it from Youtube, I don't care. Just get your hands on this thing, because you owe it to yourself to give this musical masterpiece a listen. Lorde is both a genius songwriter and a soulful singer, which you probably know already from hearing her song "Royals" on the radio. Let me be the first to assure you that Royals, while catchy, is far from her best song. Every record on this album is full of flowing lyrical quality that acts as a stream of adolescent consciousness. It's poetic, simplistic, and just good listening when compared to some of the dumbed down pop anthems of 2014. Sorry Miley, you're a bit outclassed here.

Then I acquired the Catching Fire Soundtrack for Christmas, and oh Lorde (sorry had to). Her cover of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is haunting. Lorde's voice offers a more ominous, dark take on this Tears for Fears classic, and I've been listening to it nonstop for days now. Not only does it fit in perfectly with the aesthetic of Catching Fire, but it's a quality cover in its own right. So much to love here.

Basically, I want to be best friends with Lorde. We're the same age, we're both brunettes, and we need to go shopping together. And make snarky comments about life while singing Royals at the top of our lungs.

Peace. Love. Musical inkwells?
~The Inkling.

Blue Hair, Scuppies, and Teeth: A Daughter of Smoke and Bone Review.

So it's finally time to get down to the nitty gritty here. This blog needs to be filled with some bookish credibility, so I might as well throw in a review of a book I recently read and really enjoyed. That way we can start on a nice, positive note and you guys won't think I'm some kind of negative book snob and leave me to waste away alone in the depths of the Internet. Here's hoping.

This will be spoiler-free, by the way.

Before I even discuss the book itself, I want to talk about my mindset going into it. Once upon a time, in my book-crazy childhood days, I read one of Laini Taylor's books. It was Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer. Needless to say, I gobbled this book up like a Thanksgiving turkey. Naturally this set some pretty high expectations for Daughter of Smoke and Bone, since I'd heard such great things about it and I had already fallen in love with Laini Taylor's writing. I actually had little to no idea about the plot itself, besides the fact that there was some angel-demon romance going on. 

And it was glorious. Laini Taylor is a master storyteller, and, more importantly, a wizard at world building. She makes it look almost effortless too, her prose vividly portraying every chimaera and otherworldly creature so it jumps out of the page at you. The world is ingenious, the magic system is fresh, and the best part is that for a good chunk of the book you're in the dark. As the reader you are tasked with slowly discovering more and more about Karou's world, something Laini Taylor gradually weaves into the story with ease. It's just fresh as hell, especially in a genre that's dominated by street-roaming  vampires and werewolves.

So first up we have the plot. This is the type of story that's driven by different points of view, which isn't something I'm a huge fan of in most books. However, this book is helping to change my mind on the matter. The different perspectives act as perfect lenses for the reader, allowing us to see the many facets of the story. Also the fact that it's told in third person makes the whole thing much less confusing than if it was in first. (I'm looking at you, Allegiant.) Regardless, the story will throw you some curve balls as well. Some of it I admittedly saw coming, but the ending is not at all what I expected. I don't want to give it away though, so you'll have to go pick up this thing of beauty to figure all of that out. Hah. Gotcha.

Then we have the characters. I've heard it said that a lot of people don't love the characters in this book, and feel that some of them are in fact weak. Take Karou, for example. Some believe that she doesn't show a lot of growth, since she's a badass at the beginning and remains a badass at the end. Here, I have to disagree. As a seventeen-year-old, I think Karou is one of my favorite heroines. Up there with Katniss and Triss and all the other badasses. Her name is wickedly different, she has blue hair, tattoos, and a devil-may-care attitude to boot. For example, we open on her rejecting Kaz and then wreaking her horrible ex-girlfriend vengeance upon him, which is fabulous, but as the story progresses we do see more of a humanness in Karou. She consistently questions her existence, and often she is slow to trust anyone but her closest friends. By the end, however, Karou is sure of herself and what she is, and she is even willing to open her heart to an angel. The other characters in this roster shine as well. Zuzana and Mik are hilarious, Brimstone and the other chimaera are intriguing in both physicality and characterization, and Akiva shines in all of his angelic glory alongside Karou.

Also the story takes place in locations from Prague to Eretz (the fantastical otherworld of angels and chimaeras), something that further sets it apart from most YA books that plop themselves in the US of A.

So just go read this book, is what I'm trying to say. Especially if you're looking for a quality YA high fantasy book. It's fresh in almost every way, from Karou's badassery to the innovative wish magic system that Laini Taylor creates so masterfully. This series is going places, and from what I hear a film is in the making. Let's hope they don't mess it up.

Also can we not all agree that the title of this book is wonderful, and its cover is gorgeous beyond compare?

Ok so. Good start I hope.

Peace. Love. Inkwells.
~The Inkling.

Penning the First Chapter~

Cannot get this song out of my head. Vampire Weekend does some amazing stuff. Their new album is lyrical gold. Ezra Koenig is a fine piece of work.

Shoot, but this is a book blog. Hello, bookish wanderers of the internet. The Inkling welcomes you to her first ever blog, Ink the Book. This is a holy place for all of you bookworms out there. You know who you are. You book obsessed beauties who would rather curl up on with some tea and a juicy book than go partying late into the evenings. I feel you. So bring all of your pillows and let's go on a journey of reading together. That was cheesy. Urgh. Rather, let's submerge ourselves in a fictional universe within the papery confines of a book. And yes, I said papery. Not ebook-y. I can't smell the new book smell on those things, and it drives me stir crazy. Maybe someday I'll get used to them, but right now they're cold, bookish carcasses in my hands.

So yes, I am the Inkling. Like my name, I only have a few ideas for what I want this blog to be. Mostly it will be books. Lots of 'em. But I'm an individual with multi-faceted interests, like music and video games. That stuff might make its way into here at some point too, who knows. On the other hand, my name has a bit of a double meaning. Because I'm sneaky. I am also a minion of ink, a creature that admires and respects its power. An Ink-ling, so to speak. Maybe I'm not as clever as I thought. Ah, well. Let me know what you think, any of you out there.

For now, I leave you with a quote from the lovely T.S. Eliot. Peace. Love. Inkwells.
~The Inkling.

"The purpose of literature is to turn blood into ink." - T.S. Eliot