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Blog Tour: Q&A with Lesley Livingston author of Once Every Never

Posted by Lahni in Blog Tour | Canadian Author | Fantasy | Young Adult - (4 Comments)

Good morning! I have a special treat for you today! This is my very first blog tour and author  Q&A. Today I’ve got some questions for Lesley Livingston the author of Once Ever Never, a book about a teenage girl who instead of doing touristy things while she visits her Aunt in London, finds herself smack in the middle of a war between the Celts and the Romans. I sent Lesley some very unoriginal questions and she came up with some superbly fun and original answers!

Tell me a little bit about yourself. When I read a book I always want more information about the author than what is generally included in the author bio. Somehow it helps me to connect with the book more.

Lesley Fun Facts time! Let’s see… I used to water-ski. I also used to down-hill ski. Backwards. Sometimes, that ended poorly. I once had a hamster named Spartacus. When I was a kid, I named my shiny white and gold ten-speed bike Apollo. I chew my lower lip when I can’t figure out a plot problem. It’s highly surprising to note that I still have a lower lip. I own a pair of moss-green cowboy boots that I wear on an almost constant basis. They are awesome. I’m pretty sure I met a ghost once. By ‘met’ I mean it tried to push me down a hillside in the middle of Wales. I am not to be given chocolate-covered coffee beans. EVER. For the sake of myself and those around me.

Where do you get the inspiration for your books? (I know this is a pretty lame question but I am actually curious!)

That’s not a lame question at all! (Heh… there are days when I wonder that very same thing, myself!) I get inspiration from a lot of places, but I do find that I draw frequently and deeply on history and mythology and folklore. For Once Every Never, the germ of the idea came from a visit to the British Museum in London, where I spent a great deal of time staring open-mouthed at glass cases containing some of the actual artifacts that Clare comes into contact with in the story. I was, of course, also profoundly inspired by the story of Boudicca, the fierce Celtic queen, herself.

I’m not very good with history so can you fill me in on how much of the Boudicca parts of the story are true and how much is artistic licence? Were Connal and Comorra real people? Did they really find bodies in the Norfolk Broads?

Essentially, the basic storyline I’ve set out in the book sticks fairly closely to what happened to Boudicca—as far as we know. We don’t actually know a great deal, in fact, and what was written about her contemporaneously was, of course, written by Romans. Specifically the historians Tacitus and Cassius Dio. The details are sketchy, but the bullet points—her rebellion, the subsequent massacre, and her ultimate defeat in AD 60 or 61 are accepted fact. So, too, it’s a fact that she had two daughters. There names aren’t verified to my knowledge but Comorra and Tasca are the two possibilities I came across in my research that I liked best. As for Connal, he is a creature of my imagination. Sometimes, I like my imagination. (I like it too!)

As far as I know, there have been no known discoveries of bog bodies found in the Norfolk Broads… yet. But my Spirit Warriors are based on similar finds—specifically one bog body in the British Museum called Lindow Man, who was discovered in Cheshire in England.

 

I found Clare to be a really interesting character. I loved her attitude and her fearlessness. Is she like you at all?

Yay! Thank you for saying that. I’m very fond of Clare, too. She’s headstrong and generous and funny and sharp but not the most… how shall I say… ‘intellectually curious’ character I’ve ever written. At least, she doesn’t start out that way! Once she does find herself compelled to act by circumstances, though, I think you’re right—she is fearless. Part of that is a kind of ‘never say die, never think things through’ attitude, but it serves her well. I think I probably would have spent more time trying to work through the problems she faces—and probably would have just wound up getting impaled on a flaming arrow or something. So… Go Clare!

I haven’t read any of your other novels. Can you tell me a little bit about them?

Sure! The WONDROUS STRANGE trilogy is about a 17 year old girl named Kelley Winslow who, while rehearsing an off-Broadway production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, discovers that the Bard didn’t make all that stuff up: Faeries are real, she is tied far more closely to that supernatural community than she could ever have imagined, all of Central Park in New York City is a gateway to the Otherworld—the Faerie Realm—and it’s opening. Only one things stands between the city and looming Faerie peril, and that’s Kelley. And a fierce, handsome changeling named Sonny Flannery. Okay—that’s two things.  (Sounds interesting, I’m definitely going to look into those!)

What is your favourite book or author?

Can I say Shakespeare? I know his collected works can’t really be considered a ‘book’ per se, but man! That guy could really write! (Thank you, Captain Obvious…)

 

Doesn’t she sound friendly and fun! You should definitely check out Once Every Never – I really liked it and it was well written and original.

Beyonders: A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull

Posted by Lahni in Children | Fantasy - (0 Comments)

Beyonders: A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull

Jason, a thirteen year old boy would loves to play baseball, suddenly finds himself transported to an entirely new world. While working at his job at the zoo, he falls into the hippo tank and ends up in a place called Lyrian. He stumbles onto the Repository of Learning where he reads a forbidden book (of course!) that sets him a course to recover all of the syllables to a word that has the power to destroy Maldor, the evil wizard ruling all of Lyrian. He sets off on his quest and is soon joined by another beyonder -what the people of Lyrian call people from our world- Rachel. Jason and Rachel face much opposition to their quest to find the six syllables of the magical word but they also find many allies.

I liked this book (not as well as Fablehaven, but still) and so did my 8 year old son. From the opening chapter to the final page there was non-stop action. It was exciting and captivating. The story was well-paced and the plotting was good too. I also think that Mull’s writing has improved significantly since Fablehaven. I’ve said this many times before but I’ve really noticed that reading a book aloud reveals a lot of flaws in the flow of the writing that you don’t really notice when you are reading silently. And this book was so much easier to read than the Fablehaven books. (I forgave that though because the story was so fantastic. And really, I’m making it sound the like the writing was horrendous and it really wasn’t. I didn’t even notice it until I read it aloud.)

The characters were good too. Sometimes in books meant for children the characters can be flat and one-sided but the characters in this story were believable. They had dimension and weren’t completely predictable.

I only have two tiny complaints about the book and they relate to the target audience. First of all, the book is really long (for children). It took us almost three months to get through the book (which says a lot for the story actually because my son never lost interest.) The second thing was that the ending was a little disappointing. The novel is intended to be a series of three books and there isn’t so much an ending as a “to be continued…” which for me is fine but for my son who has to wait another whole year (and then another one for the third book) to find out what happens it’s a little disappointing. I just wish there had been little more closure at the end of this one. In my copy of the book there was a note from the author explaining about the other books and when to expect them.

Overall, we both liked the book and are excited for the next one!

Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay

Posted by Lahni in Canadian Author | Fantasy | Historical Fiction - (1 Comments)

Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay

This is only the second book I’ve ever read by Kay and I have to admit, I wasn’t all that impressed by the first book. But the publisher sent me this one so I thought I’d better give it a chance. And it’s big so I was a little worried about picking it up! But I am so glad I did. I LOVED this book. Once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down!

A little bit historical fiction, and a little bit fantasy this book was full of action and intrigue. The story was really about the Tang Dynasty and the An Shi rebellion in 8th century China but the name of Kay’s country is Kitai. I don’t know much about Chinese history so I don’t know how much of Kay’s book is fiction or speculative but it was definitely interesting.

As the book begins, a young soldier, Shen Tai, has taken on the task of burying thousands of sets of bones that have been left from several different battles between the Kitan and the Taguran armies at a distant lake. As Shen Tai is going about his task he receives word of a gift that changes his entire life and possibly the entire history of his people. Because of the gift he must give up his task and travel back into the heart of the dynasty, both physically and politically. I can’t say more about the story without giving away important plot points but I hope that’s enough to spark your interest.

As I said, I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. The plot was intelligent and exciting, and the writing was good. I was never sure where the story was going to go next, yet it always came together beautifully. My only, teeny, tiny complaint was that the ending was a little disappointing. I was looking for more ends to be wrapped up in regards to one specific plot point but as I’ve thought more about the book, that wasn’t really what the story was supposed to be about so I understand what Kay was doing, but I still wanted a little more in that regard. Overall though, I thought this was a fantastic novel and I can’t wait to read more!

White Cat and Red Glove by Holly Black

Posted by Lahni in Fantasy | Young Adult - (1 Comments)

White Cat by Holly Black

Cassel Sharpe is the only member of his family that isn’t a curse worker. And he’s trying his hardest to be normal when he finds himself sleepwalking, trying to catch a white cat. After he’s kicked out of his boarding school for nearly falling off the roof of his dorm in his sleep he begins to realize that things with his family and his history aren’t actually what he thought they were. I can’t tell more than that without giving away major plot points.

I really enjoyed this book. It was something completely new in the whole supernatural powers genre. The story was well written and captivating. I recently read Tithe by the same author (her first novel, I believe) and while I really enjoyed the story, the plot was really jumpy but she seems to have improved – a lot!

If you are at all interested in this genre, this series is a must read.

Red Glove by Holly Black

*This may contain spoilers if you haven’t read White Cat.*

Cassel is just beginning the year at school when he is taken in by the FBI, informed that his brother has been killed and they suspect the murderer has also killed at least another five people. They blackmail Cassel into helping them find the killer. The only problem? Cassel soon suspects that he actually killed most of those people, but he knows he didn’t kill his brother. He also knows that if he cooperates with the FBI he could have bigger problems than being a murder suspect. He also has to deal with the fact that Lila has been worked to love him and the curse doesn’t seem to be wearing off.

I liked this book even better than the first one. Cassel has this way of working a con and getting himself out of the most difficult situations that makes for very entertaining reading. And although the books aren’t meant to be comedic, some of the characters are pretty witty and I laughed out loud several times. I also really liked the characters, Cassel especially. He has a lot of depth. Sometimes you read a book and the hero is just so good and perfect it’s kind of annoying but Cassel is real. He’s been raised in the world of the con and the mob so you’d expect that he’d be comfortable with a little bit of lying and deceiving and he is. But he’s not evil either. He’s uncomfortable with the fact that he’s killed people and even tries to reverse it. The other characters are real and believable too. Some are likeable and some aren’t, but I think that’s the point.

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy these two books as much as I did and I can’t wait for whatever happens next in this series!

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Posted by Lahni in Fantasy - (2 Comments)

So, apparently at some point in my life I knew that there was going to be another book in the Mortal Instruments series but I must have forgotten because when I found out today that the fourth book comes out in just over a month (April 5 to be exact) I was pretty surprised and excited!

I really have no idea where the next book, City of Fallen Angels, will go and I can’t wait to get my hands on this one!

I really enjoyed the first three books in the series and you can read my reviews here: City of Bones, City of Ashes and City of Glass.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with this series you can find out more here.

Sunwing by Kenneth Oppel

Posted by Lahni in Canadian Author | Challenges | Children | Fantasy - (2 Comments)

Sunwing by Kenneth Oppel

Those who read my blog regularly will already know this, but I love Kenneth Oppel.  He’s definitely one of my favourite juvenile authors.

In this novel, a companion to Silverwing, Shade Silverwing is still longing to find his father.  He begins by travelling to the human building with a few other silverwings and his brightwing friend, Marina.  And that’s when the adventure begins and doesn’t stop until the very last page.  I can’t do much more than that for a summary without giving away some major plot details!

I don’t know how many more of Oppel’s books I can review because I find myself saying the same things over and over but I do love his writing.  I read this one out loud to my son and I always find that to be a really good test for the writing.  Sometimes I read books aloud to my son and I find the wording trips me up and doesn’t seem to flow but not with Oppel, and this book was no exception.  It was so fun and exciting to read and even though this one took us quite a while to get through (because we haven’t had much time for reading, not because it was boring) we never lost the momentum of the story.  Every time we picked the book up again after a long break, we were both swept up into the story again within seconds.

And even though the story was packed with action and adventure, it never seemed like too much.  It was just fun and entertaining.  My son and I loved this book and we can’t wait to read the next one!

Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay

Posted by Lahni in Canadian Author | Challenges | Fantasy | Young Adult - (2 Comments)

Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay

Read for: CBC 4

15-year-old Ned is in Provence, missing the last two months of school, while his father, a super famous photographer shoots photos for a new book.  The first morning he is wandering around an old cathedral, while his dad shoots outside.  While in the church he meets Kate, a young exchange student from New York.  As she is showing him around the church they catch a man climbing out of a tunnel he shouldn’t be in.  Over the next few days, Ned runs into the mysterious man several more times.  But it is on the evening of Beltaine when Ned and Kate are in a place they shouldn’t be, when the story truly begins.  Ned calls his father’s assistant, Melanie, for help and when she arrives she is swept into an ancient story that has been replaying itself over and over for 2500 years.  Ned and Kate and a few others must enter the world of the mysterious man to rescue Melanie before she’s lost forever.

I had a hard time getting into the book.  At times I really liked it and would be totally absorbed but as soon as I put it down that all went away.  I never had that feeling of the book calling me, needing to be read.  Because of that I had a hard time finishing it.  It also seemed to move really slowly.  I actually didn’t really like this book that much.  The only reason I ended up finishing it and not abandoning it is because I wanted to review it for the Canadian Book Challenge.  I honestly can’t say why I didn’t like this book.  The writing was good, the story was interesting, the characters were likable and well developed – there’s isn’t any one specific thing I can pinpoint that made me dislike this novel.  I think perhaps it was mostly a timing thing.  Maybe if I’d had more time to devote to reading it I would have been more caught up in the story and enjoyed it more?  Who knows.

The one thing I can pick out that I really liked was the dialogue.  The characters were comfortable with each other and had a witty dialogue going on that had me laughing out loud several times.  Although I didn’t love this book, I will definitely be giving Guy Gavriel Kay another chance.  I’ve heard plenty about him and it’s all been good.

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Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

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Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

I picked up this book at the library because it won the Teen Survivor contest (the local library picks a few books each year and then they vote off a new book each week) this summer.  It beat out Airborn by Kenneth Oppel, which I loved.  I figured it had to be good.  Well, I was disappointed – very disappointed.

Stephanie’s rich uncle has just died, leaving most of his money and property to her.  When she is staying at his (her) house one night she is attacked by a strange man demanding a key.  Just before he kills her Skulduggery Pleasant (a strange man she met at the funeral) bursts onto the scene and saves her life.  He then introduces her to a world where magic exists and the bad guy, Serpine, is searching for the ultimate weapon which apparently belonged to her uncle.

First off, I’m pretty sure I went into this book with unfair expectations.  Because it won the contest, I was hoping for something GREAT and it wasn’t.  But if I had just picked it up without those expectations, I might have enjoyed it more.

It actually wasn’t a bad story and the writing was pretty good.  I just found that the story jumped around a lot.  I felt like the author was trying to build excitement and suspense but it just came off as a little hyperactive.  It just didn’t seem to flow very well.

What I liked about the book though was the dialogue.  Stephanie and Skulduggery had these funny little conversations which I found very entertaining.  I don’t plan on reading any more Skulduggery books but I’m sure that lots of people will enjoy this book.

Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville

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Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville

Jeremy Thatcher, grade six, spends his time drawing and avoiding girls and bullies.  One day as he is doing just that, he stumbles across a magic shop.  Once inside, the strange proprietor, Mr. Elives, sells him a marble-like object that he later discovers is actually a dragon egg and he is expected to hatch it and then care for the dragon that it produces!

I didn’t particularly enjoy this book but I’m not exactly the target audience so I’m going to turn this review over to my seven year old son and he can tell you what he thought of the book.

Isaiah:

“I liked this book because of the dragon.  There was a really funny part where the dragon chased the cat into the dining room and caused a lot of trouble.  I liked that the book was about magic.  At the beginning, I didn’t like the book because it started out kind of boring.  My favourite character was the dragon because it burned the art teacher’s foot.  My favourite part of the book was the ending (which we aren’t going to tell you about because we don’t want any spoilers!)”

I thought this book had a lot of potential but I think I’ve been spoiled by all the really great children’s fantasy out there.  (Harry Potter, Fablehaven etc.)  I just found that it moved too slowly and there wasn’t a whole lot of excitement.  But my seven year old seemed to enjoy it.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

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Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan

I’ve just finished reading this series with my seven year old son.   I’m going to get him to help me with the review.

First of all, I’m not sure I need a summary or how to go about that with an entire series so I’ll just give you the basic premise.  So, Percy Jackson is a half-blood, meaning that one of his parents is a Greek god.  Because, the Greek gods do exist and are still around.

I really enjoyed reading these books to my son.  I was worried that they would get too old for him as the series progressed but they didn’t.  (They were getting there.  My son is pretty mature for his age and I’m not sure my second son will be able to appreciate them at that age.)  I really liked this about them.  I would love to read Harry Potter to my son but I think they just get too dark in the last few books but I would like to read him the whole series at once so I’ll be holding off on them.  That’s one thing I really appreciated about these books.

They were definitely entertaining.  And sometimes I find that a series of books like this gets old or tired by the end of the series and I’m just reading to find out what happens, but that wasn’t the case with these.  In fact, I think they got better over the series.

We also learned a lot about Greek mythology.  It also made me realize how much Greek mythology is still present in our society today.  Isaiah (my son) has started noticing Greek letters everywhere and names of the gods also.   He’s also given everyone in the family a godly title.  For example, I’m the goddess of books and reading!

Here’s what Isaiah had to say about the books:

“I liked them because there were lots of battles and quests.  They were exciting.  I learned lots about the Greek gods and some letters from the Greek alphabet.”

“My favourite book was the 4th one (The Battle of the Labyrinth) because they went into the Labyrinth and time went by really fast.”

“My favourite character was Percy because he was the main character.  My favourite god was Zeus because he can control the sky.  He shot lots of lightning bolts at the bad guys.”

Overall, this was a great series for us to read together.  Now, I just have to find something else for us to read.  Any suggestions??

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