Review: "Magic Street" by Orson Scott Card - 3/5 stars

Magic Street by Orson Scott Card is an urban fantasy following Mack Street whose existence is as much of a mystery as his birth. This story has been categorized as a fantasy thriller, and I haven't read many of those, but figured I'd give this one a shot. We start off in what feels like a typical African-American neighborhood being set up for a quiet, contemporary story. Don't worry, it's not.

It takes a while for the true nature of what's happening in this book to really come into focus; and I think that's where the "thriller" aspect comes into play. Mack Street's "birth" is one of the most disturbing things I've read, and then from there is just got stranger. Weird and horrible things were happening, but you weren't getting any sort of explanation for any of it...things just kept happening. Clearly, Orson Scott Card knew what he was doing. One sure-fire way to make the spooky even spookier is to refuse to explain it.

That being said, I nearly stopped reading this one, as I don't like scary stories, and I felt like I was being led along, but not given any answers. I didn't understand where the story was going. But in the Desert Morning News' blurb, they say, "Compelling...By the time the ultimate conflict comes into focus, the novel is propelling the reader forward like a bullet." I certainly didn't feel like I was being "propelled" anywhere except away from this book. 

That was on page 79.
On page 88, we start to get some answers.
By page 100, you're lost; there's no WAY you can stop reading this.

Compelling is a perfect word for this story. There is a Shakespearean element thrown in here that isn't even hinted at in the book's synopsis (don't worry, I won't spoil it for you here). Weaving urban fantasy and Shakespeare together into a thriller doesn't seem possible...but it is. The dialogue was spunky and full of life!

"I had a dream," said Mack.

"In three minutes?" asked Ceese. "That's quick dreaming."

"He's an efficient dreamer," said Word from the front seat.

I love how all the boys talked with - and about - one another, and you feel like you're getting a peek at a real, live neighborhood. And by the time you figure out what's really at stake, you're so in love with all the families that you can't help but hold your breath and hope everything is going to work out okay for them. 

If you like a good magical realism story with the fantastical existing right up alongside reality, and don't mind a few explicit scenes and some language, give this one a shot. It was pretty good, though I would've appreciated a quicker start, or perhaps understanding a little sooner what was really at play here.

Review: "Nora & Kettle" by Lauren Nicolle Taylor 4/5 Stars

Part fairy tale re-telling, part historical fiction, Lauren Nicolle Taylor's Nora and Kettle takes the idea of Peter Pan and acts it out in post-World War II America in the late 1940's just after the Japanese-American internment camps have been closed. The concept of Peter Pan's "lost boys" is translated to the "lost children" who became orphaned after their parents died in the internment camps. Kettle is like the Peter Pan of the streets, scooping up these lost children and doing his best to care for them, even though he, himself, is a lost child. Nora plays a wealthy Wendy to Kettle's impoverished Peter, though her life is anything but idyllic. She suffers some of the most brutal physical violence I have ever read at the hands of her father - a man who is simultaneously working to get equal rights and compensation for the Japanese-Americans who suffered from the internment camps.

I really enjoyed this book. I didn't realize it was a Peter Pan re-telling at first, but once we met Kettle and his "boys" I could definitely pick up the strong vibe of Peter Pan. (There's even a Tiger Lily - a half-starved feral kitten.) Nora and Kettle both suffered through such unimaginable lives, but their hearts and thoughts remained warm and hopeful, despite all odds.

The domestic violence was very tough to read, and it gets quite graphic (the book does contain a warning at the beginning about the nature of this topic). I appreciated the fact that Nora's father wasn't just this two-dimensional villain, though it was still very easy to hate him. I think those who've never suffered from an abusive relationship can't understand why the abused would ever stay with their abuser. Through Nora's eyes, we see her struggling with this same question. She has a younger, partially-deaf, sister for whom she feels responsible, which acts as an anchor for a large part of the story, keeping her in her father's house. She longs to understand how a man who beats her and her mother constantly can seem so tender and good to the outside world and how he can care so much for Japanese-American children when he seems to loathe her very existence.

Kettle is not much more than a boy, himself, but he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. Unlike the Peter Pan we know - who refuses to grow up - Kettle hasn't had any choice BUT to grow up. We see him constantly trying to maintain the bubble of innocence around his "boys", though, even while he faces constant threats around every corner from law enforcement, starvation, and violent racist attacks.

The writing style was gentle and accessible, and did veer to the whimsical and almost poetic at times.

"I look up and watch the bad parts of me shrinking to dots in the wide blue."

There were moments I was reminded of Tahereh Mafi's style in Shatter Me, though it never got as flowery as Mafi's writing, which is a good thing in my book. Think of this more like the occasional pocket of wild flowers, instead of standing in the center of a flower shop.

We get glimpses of both Nora and Kettle's past through "flashbacks", but I had a problem with Kettle's flashbacks. Overall, I felt this was more Nora's story, and the time spent in Kettle's past seemed to be taking too long, and pulling me further from the real story I cared about. After about 1/2-way through the book, I just skimmed over Kettle's flashbacks.

If you don't want spoilers, don't read beyond this point. I would recommend this book, and there's a good chance I'll re-read it at some point. The only reason it's not a 5-star for me has to do with the way it ended -- which is SPOILERY!

**********SPOILER WARNING************

**********SPOILERS BELOW FOR THE END OF THE BOOK*********

***STOP  READING IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED FOR THE END OF THE BOOK***

The ending felt unfinished to me. Nora's sister is taken away from her, and I was expecting that to be resolved by the end of the book. It wasn't. She's still missing, and after being such a huge motivator for everything Nora did in the earlier part of the book, I felt cheated when we didn't get to find out what happened. Though when Nora finally stands up to her father, I was cheering!

A note about the sub-title "Paper Stars #1". If you look it up, the next book Breaker and the Sun (release date: May 8, 2017) might lead you to believe it is the sequel to Nora and Kettle. I got excited and thought maybe that would be the story of how Nora found her sister. After reading the synopsis, however, it sounds like Breaker and the Sun is more of a companion novel and won't be continuing this story, which is a shame.

To read my other reviews on Goodreads, click here.